‘At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’

    

Moises Gomez photo

Without yet being present, I’ll begin coverage of Masonic Week 2022 with word from the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees. Yesterday, MVS Grand Master Mohamad Yatim, accompanied by Grand Council officers, visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

While this solemn activity has become especially important in Masonic circles in recent years, the fraternity paying respect at the Tomb is a tradition. For instance, on October 19, 1925, the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction) visited the Tomb, taking a break from its deliberations at the House of the Temple.

In 1922, just several months after the Tomb’s installation, New York’s RW Bro. Solomon Holzer, Past Master of Daniel Carpenter Lodge 643, wrote to Grand Secretary Robert Kenworthy, saying he thought our Grand Lodge ought to encourage the Masonic Service Association to “place a suitably inscribed bronze tablet” on the Tomb, and should the MSA not succeed, the Grand Lodge itself ought to do it with the goal of holding a ceremony on November 4, the Masonic birthday of George Washington. I don’t think the idea went anywhere.

I expect to arrive at our hotel this afternoon, just in time to witness Adam Kendall take his place among the Society of Blue Friars. See you there.

     

‘Was there more to Morgan?’

    

This month’s online lecture from the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will offer an alternative understanding of one of American Freemasonry’s most examined episodes. RW Bro. Mark D. Issacs will look beyond the legal findings surrounding the dubitable fate of William Morgan nearly two centuries ago, and will focus on the feuding among factions allied with the era’s leading national political figures.

This will be streamed in two weeks, on February 24, from 7 p.m. The library asks for reservations here, and the lecture will be seen on YouTube here.

Magpie coverage of Masonic Week 2022 will begin Friday.

     

‘Key to Masonic theory’

    

Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, Justice.

What do Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, and you share in common? The Four Cardinal Virtues.

Just a public quick word of thanks to Worshipful Master Diego, for allowing me to present another “piece of architecture” before our lodge, and to everyone who joined in via Zoom several hours ago. (We’ll be together in lodge again in three weeks for a Ritual of Initiation.)

The Four Cardinal Virtues are key to Masonic theory. It is not enough to be disposed toward the Virtues; we must regard Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice as skills to be honed for we good men to better ourselves.

I will explore Justice specifically in some Masonic detail on Sunday, February 20–World Day of Social Justice—thanks to inspiration from Columbia Lodge 1190, so be sure to check this space then.

     

‘Rules for better living’

    

The Philosophical Research Society has published anew another Manly P. Hall text in its Signature Editions series. Practical Philosophy: Ten Basic Rules for Better Living is “written in an accessible and direct style for clear application to daily life,” says the PRS website. “This book will guide you through most of life’s quandaries by drawing upon ancient wisdom and applying it to the unique challenges of contemporary life.”

     

‘Fraternal Review’s new editor’

    

Fraternal Review, the almost monthly periodical from Southern California Research Lodge, has a new interim editor in chief. Angel Millar, noted author and speaker (and Senior Warden of The ALR) on the vanguard of Masonic thought today, is taking the desk for a time yet to be specified.

“Fraternal Review dares to be different,” says Millar in a video announcement I can’t figure how to link to. “Unlike publications of other research lodges, Fraternal Review really presents readers with bite-sized articles on a range of issues, many of which have never been covered elsewhere—and not only Masonic education and the history of the fraternity, but also contemporary culture and where Masonry fits in.”

SCRL meets in South Pasadena on the third Mondays of January, April, July, and October. Membership by affiliation is possible only for California Master Masons, unfortunately for the rest of us. But we are free to subscribe to this magazine, which I haven’t until now, upon Angel’s preferment.

Subscriptions are available for the print and/or digital versions; lodges may subscribe too, and receive three copies. What this lodge has going on is dazzling. In addition to its Stated Meetings, it regularly hosts other gatherings for guided meditations, study groups, lectures, and other educational offerings. There is a podcast, accessible via Spotify, Apple, Google, and other hosts; there is a blog too.

Click here for the new podcast, an interview with Millar.

I have no desire to live in the Golden State, but I’ll admit this turns my head. Congratulations to all.

     

‘Bro. Bloom’s anniversary’

    

Nineteen twenty-two was an axial year for English-language literature, and much of the credit belongs to James Joyce for his Ulysses, published in full for the first time on this date a century ago.

For both its style and content, the novel follows the West’s transition into the modern era of world war, global pandemic, broadcast communication, human flight, assembly lines, and other revolutions. To my knowledge, there hadn’t been a story comparable to Ulysses published before. Of course there was Homer’s Odyssey, which inspired Joyce’s overall story arc, but the stories and the styles in which they’re told are as different as the centuries from which they come. I can’t delve into the author’s style here, and I will be selective about his story’s content. I’ll just get to the point: Leopold Bloom, the hero (if that’s the right word) of Ulysses, is said to be a Freemason.

Within the 700 or so pages, there isn’t a passage in the plot or a hint in the character development that puts Bloom on the Square. Rather there are things said about him to juxtapose his otherness (a Jewish man in Dublin) with an alleged social connectivity. To wit:

Nosey Flynn made swift passes in the air with juggling fingers. He winked. He’s in the craft, he said.

Do you tell me so? Davy Byrne said.

Very much so, Nosey Flynn said. Ancient free and accepted order. He’s an excellent brother. Light, life and love, by God. They give him a leg up. I was told that by a—well, I won’t say who.

Is that a fact?

O, it’s a fine order, Nosey Flynn said. They stick to you when you’re down. I know a fellow was trying to get into it. But they’re as close as damn it. By God they did right to keep the women out of it.

Davy Byrne smiledyawnednodded all in one: Iiiiiichaaaaaaach!

There was one woman, Nosey Flynn said, hid herself in a clock to find out what they do be doing. But be damned but they smelt her out and swore her in on the spot a master mason. That was one of the saint Legers of Doneraile.

The story takes place on June 16, 1904, known to us today as Bloomsday, and it is that date that I really consider to be Bro. Bloom’s anniversary. In addition to today being the centenary of the publication of Ulysses, it is the 140th birthday of its author, the daring Mr. Joyce. Vivat!

     

‘Lodge of Amity update’

    

One silver lining in the ashen remains of the Zanesville Masonic Temple is the recovery of a time capsule secreted in the building’s southwest(!) corner.

Built in 1902-03, the six-story Renaissance Revival home of Ohio’s Lodge of Amity 5 and other Masonic groups was destroyed by fire last month. The time capsule was deposited during a St. John the Baptist Day 1902 cornerstone ceremony led by Grand Master Ike Robinson. (I’ll say it’s strange how the Grand Lodge of Ohio 1902 Book of Proceedings is nearly silent on this event, one of only two Masonic temple cornerstone-layings that year.)

The time capsule will be opened on a date to be announced, local media say, citing a statement from Mayor Don Mason, himself a Past Master of the lodge.

In a social media post last week, the lodge brethren say: “Though the fire may have taken our building and relics spanning the last 217 years, it did not take our spirit. The Lodge of Amity No. 5 would like for everyone to know that we are still here and will continue to be part of the Zanesville community. While we continue to recover from this loss and evaluate our future, we will meet at LaFayette Lodge No. 79…. Our meetings will continue to be at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month.”

     

‘The story of Prince Hall’

    

If you’re in the area in two weeks, pay a visit to Odenton Lodge 209 in Odenton, Maryland. Judging from its website, the lodge bustles with Masonic activity. I’m very curious to hear this presentation on Bro. Prince Hall, but it’s too far from home.

     

‘Masonic Myth of Our Nation’s Capital’

    

February already? It’s hard to believe, but that means my tenure as President of the Masonic Society is in its final days. As always, there will be a peaceful transfer of power, and that will take place next Friday in Virginia, when Bro. Oscar Alleyne will become our eighth President. Our after dinner speaker will be Bro. Chris Ruli, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, on “Masonic Myth of Our Nation’s Capital.”

Masonic Society

Annual Meeting

Friday, February 11

7 p.m.

Masonic Week

Arlington, Virginia

$55 per person

Reserve here

We have 85 guests booked as of yesterday and there’s still room if you haven’t added us to your itinerary. And, of course, if you are a local Mason inexperienced with Masonic Week, you are more than welcome too! This event is open to all Masons and friends of Freemasonry.

      

‘Chagall and Hesse contests’

   

Please pardon my sloppy cross-outs.

Were this the work of any other District of Manhattan lodges, I would be shocked, but being as it comes from the Tenth Manhattan, I am approvingly delighted and want to report on it despite never having written here previously about any youth contest. But the Tenth Manhattan is a special grouping of lodges.

Well, we’re all special. The First Manhattan, for instance, has some of the oldest lodges in New York (and North America). The Fourth is home to lodges organized by profession. My lodge, Publicity 1000, for media people; St. Cecile 568 for show business entertainers; Kane 454 for intrepid Arctic explorers; et al. The Tenth Manhattan is comprised of foreign language and otherwise exotic and ethnic lodges: Garibaldi 542, l’Union Francaise 17, and eleven others of French, Greek, Italian, Sephardic, Spanish, et al. identities. “Cosmopolitan” is a word used, in certain contexts, to describe Freemasonry, and I’d employ it here.

So, we have a writing contest named for Hermann Hesse, and a drawing competition named after Marc Chagall!

Chagall (1887-1985) was a native of Russia who emigrated to France to pursue his destiny in the fine arts. He was made a Mason in Paris. Grand Orient, I think, but don’t quote me. (I like to imagine he, Juan Gris, and others were of the same lodge, but I have no idea.) Hesse (1877-1962), as far as I know, was not a Freemason. Of course, his interest was in Eastern thought, but the two are not mutually exclusive.

When I was Master of my earlier lodge in 2005, my final “From the East” message to the brethren was not something I wrote, but was a few excerpted sentences from The Journey to the East, Hesse’s post-World War I novella that every Freemason ought to know:

For our goal was not only the East, or rather the East was not only a country and something geographical, but it was the home and youth of the soul, it was everywhere and nowhere, it was the union of all times. Yet I was only aware of this for a moment, and therein lay the reason for my great happiness at that time. Later, when I had lost this happiness again, I clearly understood these connections without deriving the slightest benefit or comfort from them. When something precious and irretrievable is lost, we have the feeling of having awakened from a dream. In my case this feeling is strangely correct, for my happiness did indeed arise from the same secret as the happiness in dreams; it arose from the freedom to experience everything imaginable simultaneously, to exchange outward and inward easily, to move Time and Space about like scenes in a theatre. And as we League brothers travelled throughout the world without motorcars or ships, as we conquered the war-shattered world by our faith and transformed it into Paradise, we creatively brought the past, the future and the fictitious into the present moment.

It was from this story, which I first read at age fifteen, that I learned the master is a servant—wise counsel I’ve offered to many an advancing Senior Warden. I recall reading this book the first time I heard the Police’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger” on the radio. Serendipity, if you know the lyrics.

     

‘A language of delightful sensations’

    

Ally Retberg

That part of the lecture describing the Liberal Arts, as we in New York have it, says music is “a language of delightful sensations far more eloquent than words.” In the wide diversity of rituals known throughout English lodges, there probably is similar phrasing in a Second Degree, but the recent news I’m telling you about this morning concerns live musical performance at Freemasons’ Hall.

The London headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England, erected on land where Freemasons have been meeting since 1775, features the Cafe and Bar. Simple foods and ample beverages, and, now, live entertainment. Ally Retberg, a singer and actress known for the musical Friendsical—yes, based on the television program—will perform jazz standards (Sinatra, Ella, Nat King Cole) next Thursday night in the debut of live music in the venue, which is open to the public.

I know I’ve been writing a lot about the English lately, and this is largely because of the energy unleashed by the UGLE’s leadership and professional team. From a distance, it seems the creative initiatives that engage Freemasons, the public, and the media alike are recasting the once elusive fraternity as a lively cultural player. I don’t see much of that sort of enterprise evident in the United States. Here in New York City, I can’t say there is demand for another bar with live music (whereas I can say the corrupt city and state governments make such business models nearly impossible), but other sizable Masonic venues elsewhere may recognize a chance to learn something from Great Queen Street.

(I’ve been meaning to tell you about the classical and pop music concerts—by candlelight!—at the Philadelphia Masonic Temple, and hopefully they are successful and will be continued.)

So congratulations to UGLE’s business departments, and good luck to Miss Retberg!

     

‘Garibaldi EA Degree’

   

If you still, somehow, have not witnessed Garibaldi Lodge’s famous Entered Apprentice Degree yet, your next opportunity will come this spring.

This is the very dramatic French Rite First Degree, delivered in Italian, inside the Grand Lodge Room of Masonic Hall in Manhattan. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself among a thousand or more brethren from around the world. (One time, the Fire Department ordered bus loads of Pennsylvanians out of the room because the attendees exceeded the room’s legal maximum capacity.)

So, arrive at six o’clock; bring photo ID to enter the building; have Masonic ID, apron, and knowledge to work your way into a tiled meeting; and be prepared to sit tight for a number of hours, because this is a real Masonic initiation, and not a performance in a theater.

But it is highly theatrical. This ritual is far different from what you probably know from your lodge. It is very dramatic and expressive, being how it is full of Alchemical and Rosicrucian symbolism. Seven petitioners are expected, so this will be a longer night than we’ve seen in many years.

     

‘This mighty Secret’

    

The Masonic Book Club announced today how its second offering to subscribers will be Masonry Dissected, that early ritual exposure from 1730 that gives us the first evidence of a Master’s Degree.

To recap: The MBC is no longer organized for dues-paying members, but instead now publishes books in limited runs predicated on advance sales. Pre-paid orders, at $30 per copy, are being accepted now through February 28. We can expect to receive our books in the mail in June. Those who decline to purchase in advance are to be pitied, and therefore will have a slight chance of obtaining the book at $40 a copy. Don’t be one of those guys.

Samuel Prichard is unknown to history save for the publication of this book, the full title of which is:

Masonry Dissected; being a Universal and Genuine Description Of all its Branches from the Original to this Present Time. As it is deliver’d in the Constituted, Regular Lodges, Both in the City and Country, According to the Several Degrees of Admission; Giving an Impartial Account of their Regular Proceedings in Initiating their New Members in the whole Three Degrees of Masonry, viz. I. Entered ’Prentice; II. Fellow Craft; III. Master. To which is added, The Author’s Vindication of himself. By Samuel Prichard, late member of a Constituted Lodge. London; Printed for J. Wilford, at the Three Flower-de-Luces behind the Chapter-house near St. Paul’s. 1730 (price 6 d).

And that vindication?

If all the Impositions that have appear’d amongst Mankind, none are so ridiculous as the Mystery of Masonry, which has amus’d the World, and caused various Constructions and these Pretences of Secrecy, invalid, has (tho’ not perfectly) been revealed, and the grand Article, viz. the Obligation, has several Times been printed in the Publick Papers, but is entirely genuine in the Daily Journal of Saturday, Aug. 22, 1730, which agrees in its Veracity with that deliver’d in this Pamphlet; and consequently when the Obligation of Secrecy is abrogated, the aforesaid Secret becomes of no Effect, and must be quite extinct; for some Operative Masons (but according to the polite way of Expression, Accepted Masons) made a Visitation from the first and oldest constituted Lodge (according to the Lodge Book in London) to a noted Lodge in this City, and was denied Admittance, because their old Lodge was removed to another House, which, tho’ contradictory to this great Mystery, requires another Constitution, at no less Expense than two Guineas, with an elegant Entertainment, under the Denomination of being put to Charitable uses, which if justly applied, will give great Encomiums to so worthy an Undertaking, but it is very much doubted, and most remarkable to think it will be expended towards the forming another System of Masonry, the old Fabric being so ruinous, that unless repair’d by some occult Mystery, will soon be annihilated.

I was induced to publish this mighty Secret for the public Good at the Request of several Masons, and it will, I hope, give entire Satisfaction, and have its desired Effect in preventing so many credulous Persons being drawn into so pernicious a Society.

Cazart! That guy needed an editor. We today are lucky to have Brent Morris and Arturo de Hoyos, who are reprinting the MBC’s earlier imprint of Masonry Dissected, and augmenting Harry Carr’s commentary.

I’ve always wondered somewhat if the author truly intended to harm the Craft, because what actually happened was our ancient brethren were able to obtain a ritual book for use as a guide. Grand lodges wouldn’t publish such books officially for about another 200 years, so I figure it’s possible that Prichard deserves some credit for promulgating and proliferating the Third Degree. In addition to being reprinted twenty-one times up to 1787, Masonry Dissected also was translated into Dutch, French, and German in the 1730s, when Freemasonry took root across Europe. Unintended consequences? Coincidences? I wonder.

     

‘Georgia grand lodges to sign treaty’

    

Masonic Messenger

I normally do not report all the successes made in establishing relations between coexisting grand lodges in the United States, but the news of Ralph McNeal’s passing (see post below) practically demands this: The MW Grand Lodge of Georgia and the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia will sign what is being called a “treaty” on April 9.

I don’t know what the terms of the agreement will say. UPDATE: no visitations, nor dual memberships.

And then there will be four—four states where fraternal accords perhaps are still being worked on.

     

‘Ralph McNeal, Jr., R.I.P.’

    

Ralph McNeal, Jr.
1959-2022

Bro. Ralph McNeal, Jr., as forceful a voice as any for integrity in Freemasonry, died yesterday. He was 62.

When I “met” him twenty years ago in Masonic Light and other Yahoo! Groups, Ralph, exhibiting the patience of Job, assisted so many of us who were trying to grasp the myriad intricacies inherent in understanding Prince Hall Affiliation Masonry and the maddening slowness of the larger Masonic populace to meet our PHA brethren on the Level. All of us, particularly those who rose to ranks senior enough to make reforms, are indebted profoundly.

Ralph was a very proud veteran of the U.S. Air Force who was stationed for a time in Italy, and there he was made a Mason in San Vito Lodge 37, a military lodge in PHA Masonry, in 1986. Also proud of his Newark, New Jersey roots, Ralph returned home and continued his Masonic labors. Relocating to Arizona years later, he affiliated with Martin Luther King, Jr. Lodge 29, which got its start in the seventies as a lodge for Air Force servicemen, and was Master there. I don’t doubt Ralph was a treasured Mason in all those localities, but I think it was the Phylaxis Society that allowed him to radiate the Light that benefited brethren within the PHA world and without.

It is an encyclopedic subject that requires a near Talmudic degree of penetration to tell the story, but the bogus “black grand lodges” across the country (there are dozens here in New York City alone) bedevil Prince Hall Affiliation Masons simply by existing. Personally, I think some of these are innocent fraternities just living outside the PHAmily, but of course others are scams or even cults. Regardless, Ralph was head of the Phylaxis Commission on Bogus Masonic Practices when many of us met him in eMasonry all those years ago. He made it his business to abate so many misconceptions about PHA Masonry and all the phonies that I have to believe Ralph deserves much credit for sowing the seeds that blossom today. (In 2001, Phylaxis awarded him its Lewis Medal of Excellence.)

When he was made a Mason in 1986, zero “mainstream” grand lodges had fraternal recognition of their Prince Hall neighbors; now, all but five of those jurisdictions have varying forms of relations with our PHA brethren—and I believe progress will be realized in the final five states sooner than later. (UPDATE: 1/23/22–I’ve just been informed the Georgia grand lodges will sign an agreement on April 9.) It’s just heartbreaking that Ralph didn’t live to see it happen.

Please remember Ralph’s widow, Shermain, and their sons Ralph, Corey, and Gibran in your devotions.

“Alas, my Brother.”

     

‘40th Brotherhood Night’

    

New England Brotherhood Night is on for 2022!

On Saturday, March 19, Masons from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut will gather at a resort in the Green Mountain State for an evening of fellowship and food. Click here for accommodations, dining fee, and other details.

Anyone know if they still host the Hill Degree up there?

     

‘Archaeological architecture from Solomon’s time’

    

A study published this month in Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology calls ashlar stone masonry “an elite style of architecture” that reveals clues into the time of David and Solomon.

“Royal Architecture in the Iron Age Levant,” by Madeleine Mumcuoglu and Yosef Garfinkel, identifies “six prominent characteristics of the royal style.” The stone masonry is counted with:

• volute capitals;
• decorated bases;
• rectangular roof beams;
• recessed openings of doors and windows; and
• window balustrades

The researchers, both from Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, credit finds at Khirbet Qeiyafa, an ancient fortress twenty miles south of Jerusalem, for catalyzing this particular focus, but they discuss evidence from around the Levant.

“In the Kingdom of Israel, large and splendid architectural complexes associated with especially fine buildings with ashlar masonry were uncovered at Samaria, Megiddo, Dan, and Hazor, royal centers dating from the 9th-8th centuries BCE,” the study reports.

“The beginning of royal architecture took place very early in Judah, much earlier than any of the other political units known in the Levant,” it says in conclusion. “This early appearance in the Kingdom of Judah may surprise some scholars, but such royal architecture is mentioned in the biblical tradition in relation to David’s palace, Solomon’s palace, and Solomon’s temple.”

Read the paper here.

     

‘A History of Calendars’

    

I have been remiss in helping publicize the activities of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, but let me begin again. Next Thursday, one of the Assistant Grand Lecturers of the Tenth Manhattan District will present “A History of Calendars” in an online discussion.

VW Bro. Christophe Lobry-Boulanger will lead us through the chronology of…well, chronology. From calendars of the ancient world to medieval times and onward, with explanation of solar, lunar, and other systems, our lecturer will tell us why we mark the days as we do.

This will begin at seven o’clock and can be seen on YouTube. Make your reservation here.

Anne Frank Center

VW Bro. Christophe Lobry-Boulanger is a Past Master of La Loge France La Clemente Amitie Cosmopolite 410, one of our francophone lodges here in Manhattan. Without the temple, Bro. Christophe serves his fellow man by laboring in humanitarian relief around the world under the auspices of the United Nations. I leave it to you to internet search his name, but it seems to me he is a Mason we all can admire.

Suddenly I crave a chardonnay champagne.

     

‘The Railroad Degree’

    

After a two-year hiatus, the Railroad Degree will ride again this spring.

It’s a tradition of Ionic Lodge 31, located in New Castle, Delaware, that the brethren commenced in 2016 as a means of making the Third Degree extra special for the new Master Mason, his lodge, and brethren from beyond alike.

The lodge hires the Wilmington & Western Railroad which, at 150 years, is the oldest operational locomotive in the state, for an adventurous afternoon.

This time, it will be Saturday, April 30. There will be a very early luncheon at 10:30 a.m. Then, it’s all aboard at 11:30 for the ride deep into the Brandywine Valley woods to a grassy point alongside Red Clay Creek, where the MM Degree is conferred.

Contact Ionic here for information and tickets ($40/person). Sold out as of January 29.

    

‘Google Pixel & Illuminati Brotherhood’

     

J. Wright photos

We’re not supposed to brag about these things, but this is too incredible to keep quiet. So, you’ve been seeing new ads for Google’s Pixel 6 in recent months, but did you spot the Illuminati Brotherhood ring?

It’s super fast! It’s subliminal (of course!). He’s wearing it “points in” and on the finger denoting Supreme Hierophant rank of the 99th Degree, so this is heavy business, but it’s there for the initiated eye to see.