‘Time to join/renew QCCC’

    

If it’s November, it is time to join or renew with QCCC for 2025. Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle is the corporate side of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. Membership in the lodge is limited to a small number of scholars who are elected, but guys like you and me may join QCCC, the principal benefit of which is possession of the treasury that is Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the lodge’s annual book of transactions.

QC2076 will meet one more time this year for its installation of officers on November 14 at Great Queen Street. Bro. Trevor McKeown, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, will become the 138th Master of the lodge.

For next year, the lodge has scheduled:

Thursday, February 20

Thoughts on the Early History of the Royal Arch

Christopher Powell  

Thursday, May 8

The Prestonian Lecture: The Second Grand Lodge, The London Irish & Antients Freemasonry

Dr. Ric Berman

Thursday, June 26

The Catholic Church and Freemasonry: From UK Foreign Office Files

Dr Jim Daniel

The meeting will be held in Bristol.

Thursday, September 11

Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: Insights from the Debate on the Eleusinian Mysteries

Dr. Ferdinand Saumaurez Smith

Open Meeting–Non-Masons are welcome to attend.

Thursday, November 13

Installation Meeting

Installation Paper

Someday I will visit, I keep telling myself. Click here to join QCCC or click here to renew your membership.

     

‘The return of The Magic Flute’

    

The Met

It’s almost time for The Magic Flute, Mozart’s Masonic opera, to return to The Met for its annual run. From the publicity:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s

The Magic Flute

The Metropolitan Opera

December 12-January 4

Tickets (from $35!) here

The Met’s family-friendly production of Mozart’s dazzling fairy tale returns, sung in English and running under two hours. Nimrod David Pfeffer and J. David Jackson share conducting duties, leading a standout cast in Julie Taymor’s magical staging. Tenors David Portillo and Duke Kim share the role of Tamino, the brave prince on a quest to win the clever princess Pamina, sung by sopranos Hera Park and Emily Pogorelc. The cast also features tenors Will Liverman and Sean Michael Plumb alternating as the luckless bird catcher Papageno. Sopranos Kathryn Lewek and Aigul Khismatullina alternate as the Queen of the Night. Basses Solomon Howard and Pectin Chen take turns as Sarastro.

Prior to the December 14 performance, children and families are welcome to join our Holiday Open House. The Open House is free to all ticket holders for the December 14 performance.

The Met

World Premiere: Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, 1791. A sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte in the original German) was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score.

The Met

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) was the son of a Salzburg court musician who exhibited him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. He died three months after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, his last produced work for the stage. The remarkable Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) was an actor, singer, theater manager, and friend of Mozart who wrote the opera’s libretto, staged the work, and sang the role of Papageno in the initial run.

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. That country was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but most opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

The Met

Mozart and his librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, created The Magic Flute with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The baritone Papageno represents the comic and earthy, the tenor Tamino and the soprano Pamina display true love in its noblest forms, the bass Sarastro expresses the solemn and the transcendental, and the Queen of the Night provides explosive vocal fireworks.

     

‘Happy Garibaldi anniversary’

    

Just in time for Garibaldi Lodge’s 160th anniversary year, a pipe maker, that I unhappily cannot identify, seems to have produced a briar bearing the handsome likeness of Giuseppe Garibaldi. This photo shows a page in the October issue of Arbiter magazine. It is being circulated on social media by Al Pascià to promote its Ovalina shape, two of which are seen resting on the page. Maybe this Garibaldi briar is made by that venerable pipe-maker, but I cannot find any info on the web about it.

Anyway, the actual anniversary of the lodge’s constitution passed on June 11, but the brethren will meet tomorrow night at eight o’clock in the Corinthian Room for its regular communication. (It’s impossible to choose a favorite lodge in the Tenth Manhattan District, but I’m drawn to Garibaldi because of the French Rite EA° it famously confers, in Italian, to the delight of hundreds of visiting Masons.)

Magpie file photo

From the 150th anniversary.

Garibaldi 542 was the first lodge under the Grand Lodge of New York to work in the Italian language. There was confusion in the Craft at the beginning, as the lodge was trilingual—Italian, French, and English—so that the DDGM had to direct the Worshipful Master to keep the lodge’s proceedings in Italian, per the Dispensation granted by Grand Lodge.

The lodge’s namesake, of course, is the Italian freedom-fighter and Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy. Did you know Giuseppe Garibaldi resided in Staten Island for a time? Read more about Garibaldi 542’s history here.

Happy anniversary!

     

‘Where are AMD’s scholars?’

    

►

Brethren of the Allied Masonic Degrees have received the latest Allied Times newsletter, which contains all kinds of information on recent and upcoming events, including Masonic Week. Also of note is a message from the chairman of Grand Council’s Publications Committee concerning the upcoming edition of Miscellanea.

This, ideally, is the annual book of quality papers written by AMD Masons around the country and presented in their local councils. Looks like we’re getting a “best of” anthology of classics this year. Too little new material is being submitted by the council secretaries (or maybe submissions received aren’t that great) to fill the pages of a quality book, so most of this new volume comes from the past. Here’s the table of contents:

▪︎ 1939-1941: “The Union Degree,” by Wendell K. Walker

▪︎ 1939-1941: “Evolution of the Tracing Board,” by S. Clifton Bingham

▪︎ 1949: “Light From The Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid,” by J. Edward Allen

▪︎ 1950: “Group Masonic Research,” by William Mosley Brown

▪︎ 1954: “Freemasonry Past, Present, and Future,” by William A. Thaanum

▪︎ 1981: “The Itinerant Degree Peddlers,” by S. Marshall Sanders, Jr.

▪︎ 1991: “Ray Shute and the A.M.D.,” by Keith Arrington

▪︎ 2024: “What Come You Here to Do?,” by Robert G. Davis

▪︎ 2024: “Forward of Freemasonry and the Marquis de Lafayette’s 1824-1825 American Tour,” by B. Chris Ruli

Papers in AMD need not meet the same requirements one finds in research lodges. For starters, these do not have to be research papers, but rather information of “Masonic interest” is how I think the rule phrases it. The requirements aren’t at all rigorous, so standards in length, style, and content shouldn’t prevent everyone from participating. Naturally, not everyone is destined for this kind of work. AMD also needs ritualists, administrators, and organizers, but there ought to be someone writing the educational content of meetings.

This brings me to my principal gripe about Grand Council: It charters constituent councils too generously. The proof of this, in part, is seen in how practically no one in the country gets published in Miscellanea. I’m not sure if Charter No. 600 has been issued yet, but it’s close. Where are all the Masonic scholars in all these councils?

It took Grand Council almost forty years to issue Charter No. 83 in 1971 (to my council), but in the past fifty-three years it has cranked out more than 500? Fifty-three years when the Masonic population in the United States dropped from more than three million to 800,000? How does that make sense?

It doesn’t, of course, because AMD was meant to be small. It is not open to Master Masons; one must be a Royal Arch Mason, which precludes about 90 percent of Master Masons from joining. And one does not petition; one is invited into a council. And we cannot invite too many because each council is constitutionally capped at twenty-seven members.

Get it? It’s supposed to be a small, even elite, fraternity. One of the codgers who was still around when I was brought in twenty-three years ago called it the Ph.D. level of Freemasonry.

So, now that the Allied Masonic Degrees in the United States is supersized, where are all the writers? (Why am I not writing for Miscellanea is the obvious question, and my answer is complicated, but I do have reasons.)

To have your work published in Miscellanea, give the paper to your council secretary, and he will forward it to the Publications Committee.

UPDATE—October 30: Okay, a friend back channel called bullshit on my “reasons,” so I’ll share one here: Where are the dozens of Grand Council officers in this? If, say, eight of them submitted papers each year, we’d get a book. They all were appointed to their glamorous positions meritoriously, and there was no tedious cronyism at work, so what gives?

     

‘1764 MM° in November’

     

This sounds like a great day!

I don’t think I’m familiar with the “Book of Hiram.” A ritual exposure, I’ll guess.

I’ll see if Ben mentions it at The ALR on Tuesday.

     

‘Devotional: The Still, Small Voice’

    

It’s been more than a year, but I haven’t gotten used to being a Virginia Mason. Usually, joining a research lodge does not make one a Mason in that lodge’s grand lodge, but the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Virginia sees that differently, and so my affiliation with Civil War Lodge of Research means I’m a Virginia Mason. Still, it doesn’t come to mind until I receive some communication from the Grand Lodge, whether it’s the quarterly print magazine (look for my article on CWLR in the new issue!) or something in my inbox.

As Grand Chaplain, RW Thomas Lee Varner, Jr. emails the brethren occasional essays in which he explores the various Biblical references in Craft ritual. (Virginia’s is very similar to New York’s.) The following is Thursday’s Devotional and is shared here with the kind permission of its author.

This monthly devotional has been approved by the Grand Master, Most Worshipful Jack Kayle Lewis. It is the latest in a series discussing Biblical references in our ritual.

The Still, Small Voice

In both the Entered Apprentice and Master Mason degree lectures, we learn that there was not the sound of any tool of iron heard in King Solomon’s temple while it was being built. Why was that? We know that the stones and timbers were cut and prepared elsewhere using iron tools, so the issue was not that the iron was unclean or that it polluted the temple. The scriptures are silent on this point, but perhaps it was that, because the workmen were building the house of God, that a holy and reverent silence needed to be observed. The only sounds were the low commands of the overseers, the whispering of the ropes as they lifted the stones into place, and the tapping of the wooden mauls as they set the timbers upright. They were guided by “that reverential awe which is due from a creature to his Creator” as expressed in the Entered Apprentice degree charge, and were exercising “those truly Masonic virtues, silence and circumspection” as noted in the emblem of the sword pointing to a naked heart in the Master Mason degree lecture. The reverent silence was also needed for them to hear when God spoke to their hearts any additional commands needed for the building.

We say that we were first prepared to be a Mason in our heart, and since we are engaged in the building of our own spiritual temples, it is important for us often to observe a holy and reverent silence to do that work. Psalm 46 instructs us to “Be still and know that I am God.”  A favorite story is that of Elijah in 1 Kings who, after defeating the prophets of Baal and receiving a death sentence from Jezebel, fled to Mt. Horeb, the same mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. God told him to stand and watch, and then sent a mighty windstorm, a tremendous earthquake, and finally an enormous fire, but He was not in any of them. He then spoke to him in a still, small voice, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” And that is how God often speaks to us, not in extraordinary miracles or immense demonstrations of power, but in gentle murmurs to our soul. As Masons, what are we doing here? Our ritual suggests that we are here to make each other better, to extend brotherly love and support to each other and our families, to be moral examples to our community, and to uphold the traditional American values of love of God, love of country, and love of family. In our daily lives filled figuratively with the deafening banging of drums and clashing of cymbals, it is often difficult to hear God’s voice and what He wants us to do. But we know that the Bible contains His still, small voice, and we would do well to set aside quiet time and prayer to make ourselves familiar with it. I assure you that when you seek God, He will not fail you. As it says in the Entered Apprentice lecture, “Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.”

My thanks to our Grand Chaplain for his Devotionals, and for allowing me to share this one here.

     

‘The wait for Waite is over’

    

Yesterday afternoon, Weiser Antiquarian Books released its anticipated latest catalogue—no, not another Crowley collection—comprised largely of titles from the study of one Arthur Edward Waite. There are 101 books in this batch, and more than half are written or edited by our Masonic Brother.

Weiser Antiquarian Books

And there are a few about Waite, such as the elusive 1932 “Check List” of his writings, published privately (and this copy is signed) by H.V.B. Voorhis, a Past Master of The American Lodge of Research, and a friend of Waite.

A number of the books have been sold already, including—drat!—one first edition (1924) of The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, a hardcover in VG+ condition. But there are many more from Waite on subjects including Alchemy, Éliphas Lévi, Hermeticism, Holy Graal, Kabbalah, Magic, Paracelsus, Tarot, Thomas Vaughan, and more. Not Freemasonry though.

Other authors featured in Catalogue 287 include Johann Georg Faust, Manly P. Hall, MacGregor Mathers, Israel Regardie, and more.

(Hey, with Hanukkah just two months away, if someone were to make me the gift of this two-volume set, I’d be one happy and grateful reader!)

     

‘The first Masonic medal’

     

Leftfield Pictures/History Channel

A segment from the once popular television program Pawn Stars uploaded to YouTube this week exhibits what was called “the first Masonic medal.” The token has George Washington in profile and the date 1797 on the obverse, and a collection of Craft lodge symbols on the reverse.

Leftfield Pictures/History Channel

Not knowing much about such a thing, pawn shop proprietor and star of the show Rick Harrison summoned an expert numismatist and appraiser to explain what it’s about. David Vagi, director of Numismatic Guaranty Company in Florida (he is flown to Vegas for his appearances), is renowned as an authority on coins from the ancient world, but I’m skeptical about his knowledge of things Masonic. As you know, our fraternity is a quirky society with practically endless possibilities and improbabilities in its material culture, as we’ll see here.

When Vagi termed this piece “literally the first Masonic medal; what they call Masonic pennies,” I lost faith in his evaluation. But he also said it was struck by Peter Getz, a Pennsylvania Mason who worked as a silversmith and engraver, which is corroborated by historical and numismatic sources.

And then there’s the November 1974 issue of The Pennsylvania Freemason, the periodical of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. A short article accounting for the then seven medallions known to have been commissioned by the Grand Lodge (I don’t know if there have been more from the past fifty years) says:

Click to enlarge.

Washington 1797 Medallion

The rarest medallion in the collection is the Washington medallion struck by Grand Lodge in 1797.

It was struck in recognition of the anticipated election of Bro. Washington as General Grand Master of Masons in the United States.

The proceedings of Grand Lodge, dated January 13, 1780, states:

“The Ballot was put upon the Question: Whether it be for the Benefit of Masonry and ‘a grand Master of Masons thro’out the United States’ shall now be nominated on the part of this Grand Lodge…

Sundry, respectable Brethren, being put in nomination, it was moved that the Ballot be put to them separately, and His Excellency George Washington, Esquire, General and Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States being first in nomination, he was balloted for accordingly as Grand Master, and Elected by the unanimous vote of the whole Lodge.”

 

This action of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania did not meet with favor by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. The office was never established.

It created the belief among Masons that such an office did exist, and that Washington occupied it. The error was further compounded by the abbreviated legend on the reverse of the medal:

“G.W.G.G.M.” – George Washington General Grand Master.

The medal is of bronze, 1 3/8 inches in diameter and 1/16 inch thick. One side of the medal has the bust of Washington in uniform and carries the legend “G. Washington, President, 1797.”

The reverse side shows emblems of Masonry surrounded by the inscription “AMOR • HONOR • JUSTITIA,” and the initials “G.W.G.G.M.”

Around the rim on both sides is a rope-like design which could symbolize the cable tow.

The medal closely resembles both in drawing and execution the Washington half dollars of 1792 engraved by Bro. Peter Getz of Lancaster, Pa., a Past Master of Lodge No. 43, F&AM of Lancaster.

Two of the three known medals are in the Grand Lodge collection.

In the end, Mr. Vagi valued this piece at $40,000, “maybe a touch more.” Mr. Harrison and the seller did not achieve a meeting of the minds.

If you’re scratching your head over “the Washington half dollars of 1792” because Washington didn’t appear on a U.S. coin until 1932 (and he would have been appalled at the suggestion his likeness should appear on the Republic’s money), don’t doubt your sanity. “Medals, tokens, and coinage proposals in this interesting series [of Washington pieces] dated from 1783 to 1795 bear the portrait of George Washington,” says the guide known informally as “Yeoman’s Red Book.” “Many of these pieces were of English origin and were made later than their dates indicate.”

Whitman Publishing, LLC

“Dies engraved by Peter Getz of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are believed to have been made to produce a half dollar and cent as a proposal to Congress for a private contract coinage before the Philadelphia Mint became a reality,” the book also says. Now, if you have one of those, you could be looking at six figures, depending on which one and its condition.

     

‘Retired Senator made Mason on Sight’

     

Bro. Pat Roberts, retired U.S. Senator in white apron, and MW Jack Kyle Lewis are flanked by four of the Grand Lodge of Virginia’s District Deputy Grand Masters after the Grand Master made Roberts a Mason on Sight last Wednesday at Andrew Jackson Lodge 120 in Alexandria. (I nicked this photo off Shelby’s Facebook.)

A longtime reader—there literally are several of those—saw the post the other day about Naval Lodge, and took the opportunity to tell me about something novel in the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

Last Wednesday, the sixteenth, Grand Master Jack Lewis exercised a prerogative very rarely seen in the jurisdiction by “Making on Sight” retired U.S. Senator Pat Roberts a Mason. He is a member of Andrew Jackson Lodge 120 in Alexandria. This lodge, now in its 170th year, meets inside the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.

Sometimes it is called “at Sight,” and it is found among Mackey’s Landmarks, although not every grand lodge permits it.

There was no mention of this on the Grand Master’s schedule, and I don’t see anything official about it. I was able to find a few mentions on Facebook. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next issue of The Herald. All I know about Sen. Roberts is he represented Kansas in the Senate from 1997 to 2021, and served in the House of Representatives for sixteen years beforehand.

Congratulations to all involved!

The Grand Annual Communication is a few weeks away. Richmond is too far for me, but I hope to attend someday.

     

‘Our craving for remembrance and a tangible blessing for posterity’

    

Grand Lodge of Rhode Island

Next Saturday morning, Rhode Island Freemasons will gather at Freemasons Hall in East Providence (222 Taunton Avenue) to commemorate the centenary of the temple’s cornerstone ceremony, which occurred Saturday, October 25, 1924. Today, the building also is the headquarters of the Grand Lodge, but then it was home only to Rising Sun Lodge 30 which, by then, had been at labor half a century, having been established July 4, 1874. From the publicity:

A Century of Masonic Heritage

The magnificent Temple was built in 1924 for Raising [sic] Sun Lodge No. 31 [sic] and was designed by renowned architect William Gilbert Upham of Norwood, Ma. Who was a member of Orient Lodge and specialized in the design of Masonic Temples.

The original Cornerstone was laid on October 25, 1924, by the Most Worshipful Grand Master, Henry C. Dexter and it was rededicated in 1992 when Grand Lodge took ownership of the property.

The ceremony of rededication is an ancient, solemn and significant event in Freemasonry. It marks the renewal of our commitment to our principles of Truth, Relief and Brotherly Love, and the consecration of our meeting place.

Freemasons Halls:

Temples of Virtue

Freemasons Halls have a long history and are rich in symbolism, they are literally Temples erected to Virtue. These buildings serve not only as the physical place where Masons meet but also as enduring material representations of our ideals.

Grand Lodge of Rhode Island

Many Freemasons have enjoyed the brotherhood fostered within these walls. Here, they have become great leaders, shared knowledge, worked together for common goals, and nurtured their dreams. These buildings are silent witnesses to history, having seen generations of men strive to become better versions of themselves and contribute positively to the world.  

These are only a few reasons why the rededication ceremony will be a very significant event. It is definitely something to witness. The ceremony is open to Freemasons of all degrees and the general public and will begin at 10 a.m. with a procession from Haven Methodist Church on Taunton Ave. to Grand Lodge.

Looking back the hundred years, the occasion’s oration was delivered by W. Bro. Chester W. Barrows, Grand Orator, who also served as an Associate Justice of the state’s Superior Court. Excerpted:

We are laying a cornerstone of a Masonic Temple. Freemasonry as an institution is already old. It will continue to exist while men are social beings. It has certain attributes that do not change, but its character at any given time will be affected markedly by the men who then compose it. We are the Rhode Island Masons today. We shall leave our more or less lasting marks on the organization. What shall our imprint be?

Grand Lodge of Rhode Island

We have placed beneath this stone certain temporal and transient things deemed by us of some importance. There, sealed away from mortal sight and corroding air, they will be preserved long after we have been forgotten. Antiquarians, a half century or more from now, when this temple shall be razed to give way to a more glorious one, will curiously examine these tokens, will try to follow the thoughts that influenced us, and to discover what manner of men and Masons we were. Today’s civilization, with all its wonders, will doubtless seem as curious and quaint to them as our ancestors’ does to us. Our Masonic forbears led a simple life as we see it. Their opportunities were limited, but we know their sterling, though stern, worth. What we are, what our influence is upon the Order, in part, is due to what they were. We glory in their pioneering for institutions adapted to free-born men and dedicated to God and native land.  Ours is not to pioneer, but to preserve those institutions. If our efforts shall appeal to those who follow us, as do our grandfathers’ to us, we may feel that this generation is a not unworthy link in the chain of progress.

Chester Barrows

Why do we have a ceremony at the laying of a cornerstone? Because it is traditional perhaps, but what reason is there for the continuance of tradition? What is there here to talk about? Talk often is only the outward evidence of a vacant mind, the rambling of aimless thought. Such is not for us on this occasion. Nor is the fact that here is our own building a cause for boastfulness. Is not the real reason for this occasion that we are doing something which we hope will be worthy of remembrance; something for which we believe our “Children will rise up and call us blessed.” At man’s best, there is always an aspiration to do or say something worth preserving. The endless struggle to be remembered is traceable through the ages. We hate the thought of being forgotten. A few exceptional individuals successfully perpetrate themselves, but most persons fail to do so.

 

As groups, however, men often can succeed when singly they would fail. Among the lasting and proper accomplishments of a group is the erection of a Masonic Temple. When we lay the cornerstone of such a building, we have taken a step toward satisfying our craving for remembrance, as well as left a tangible blessing for posterity. We are warranted in talking about it.

This is a cornerstone. We shall not presume to tell you of the part that it physically plays in the structure. We only know that it rests upon what has been done. It supports what is to follow. It bears the relation to the building that your life and mine bear to past and future human life. As we prove square and true, so will our descendants.

The following year, W. Barrows would be elevated to Rhode Island’s Supreme Court, where he would serve until his death in 1931 at age 58.

Locate your copy of this Grand Lodge’s 1925 Proceedings to marvel at this wonderful speech in its entirety, as well as to peruse the lengthy list of those “temporal and transient things” deposited inside the “beautiful, neatly engraved copper box, hermetically sealed,” placed inside the cornerstone.

Also, I can’t help but claim to have found on other pages a terrific name for a lodge: What Cheer.

What Cheer Lodge 21 was set to labor in 1857 in Providence. The phrase “What cheer?” is elemental to Rhode Island lore and concerns the arrival of Roger Sherman himself upon the shore of the Seekonk River where he was greeted thusly by local Native Americans. Read more about that here.

    

‘Naval Lodge 4 at the U.S. Capitol’

     

Naval Lodge 4

Worshipful Master Peter Rogers with the brethren

of Naval Lodge 4, FAAM, at the U.S. Capitol last night.

 
As reluctant as I am to inflame the Tinfoil Hat Crowd, I want to salute Naval Lodge 4 in the District of Columbia for hosting a meeting inside the U.S. Capitol last night.

You probably are wondering how, but it takes a personal connection to arrange such a thing.

(These photos are on social media, so I’m not betraying secrets in this edition of The Magpie Mason.)

Naval Lodge 4

Naval 4 typically meets in a building on Pennsylvania Avenue, about half a mile east of Capitol Hill, so they didn’t even have to leave the neighborhood.

For this special occasion, the lodge hosted Bro. Chris Ruli, author of the new book Brother Lafayette, a chronicle of the French freedom fighter’s tour of the United States in 1824-25.

As an aside, yesterday was the 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s visit to George Washington’s grave. On Mount Vernon’s website, we read:

When Lafayette returned for his grand tour of the United States in 1824 at the invitation of President Monroe, he briefly stopped at Mount Vernon again to pay his respects. It was later recounted that Lafayette visited Washington’s tomb alone and returned to his party with tears in his eyes.

Naval Lodge 4

The brethren in the Rotunda beneath John Trumbull’s General George Washington Resigning His Commission, the 12x18 oil on canvas painted 1822-24.

Well done, brethren! Excellent.

     

‘The Knight-Scholars are at labor’

    

Belated congratulations to the brethren of Academia Lux Borealis 25, the lodge of Masonic research and education chartered early this year by the Grand Lodge of Alaska.

This grand jurisdiction has the smallest membership in the United States, with 1,377 accounted in 2023, yet the 665,000 square miles of The Last Frontier make it the largest state in our country. Unsurprisingly, this lodge meets online, monthly on fourth Wednesdays at 7 p.m. local time. So the coming meeting, for example, will be next Wednesday at three o’clock Eastern.

By Travis Simpkins

The lodge’s website conveys the inspiring story of how ALB came into existence, which you can read here. Secretary John May is a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge and current Grand Treasurer too, suggesting it’s good to have friends in high places.

But not every gathering is virtual; the brethren meet in person on weekends. In spring and fall, they congregate for their retreats; the Autumnal Retreat was last weekend, in fact. The rules say due and timely notice is disseminated to the brethren ninety days in advance; reply is required; and a request to be excused is mandatory for those who cannot attend.

From the bylaws. Click to enlarge.

Keeping everything simple is a great way to meet on the Level. Setting annual dues at $175 should bolster participation.

Perhaps the most revealing page on the lodge’s website provides the Obligation:

Obligation of Academia Lux Borealis

Darkness gathers and my labor, my quest now begins.

I will be chivalrous, inquisitive, and righteous.

I will take the less traveled, mysterious paths.

I will be without fear in the face of ignorance, tyranny, and fanaticism.

I will always seek and speak the truth, even if it leads to my death.

I shall cast off ego, wear no crowns, and win no glory.

I will live and die at my labors.

I am he that builds, maintains, and sustains the Temple.

I bring Light to the darkness.

I am the sword and shield that guards the Craft, the dawn that wakes the sleepers, a Knight-Scholar of Alaska.

I am the fire that burns against the cold, of the Light that brings enlightenment, the quill and candle of knowledge.

I obligate my labors, my quest to the glory of the Great Creator, henceforth.

It shall not end until my death.

     

‘Some background on Ashmole’s Free Mason Acception’

    

John Riley’s portrait of Elias Ashmole, c.1681-82, hangs in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University, a gift from Ashmole personally. (Prints, in various sizes, available from the gift shop here.) That book under his right hand is Ashmole’s The Institutions, Laws, and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (1672), a 1693 edition of which is displayed at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia.

On this date in 1646* Elias Ashmole was made a “Free Mason.”

You probably knew that even if you’re not in the habit of noting the anniversary when it arrives. And what has it to do with us today? I don’t know, except I think it proper to remember the early Free Masons despite the tantalizingly little we know about them.

This edition of The Magpie Mason takes a quick look inside The Diary and Will of Elias Ashmole, in which pages we locate the source of that blurb which appears in so many Masonic history and reference books. After the date and time (“Oct. 16. 4:30 p.m.”), there is only this single sentence:

I was made a Free Mason at Warrington in Lancashire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring of Karincham in Cheshire; the names of those that were then at the lodge, Mr. Richard Penket Warden, Mr. James Collier, Mr. Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Richard Ellam, and Hugh Brewer.

Title page of the aforementioned Ashmole book on the Order of the Garter displayed at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia.

It’s an interesting diary that frustrates through omission of details, like the exact place of this acception into Free Masonry; and alternately serves odd points, such as Ashmole being named Elias, rather than the agreed upon Thomas (after his father’s father), because his godfather at the christening blurted out “Elias” for a reason he couldn’t explain afterward. And then there are circumlocutions, like referring to the Civil War as “the troubles in London.”

Anyway, what I mean to share here are the footnotes the editor of this 1927 printing added to give some biography to those names. To wit:

  1. Colonel Mainwaring, b. 1608, a scion of the younger branch of the Mainwarings of Peover, succeeded to the Karincham estate in 1638.

  2. Richard Penketh, son of Thomas P. of Penketh Hall, d. 1652.

  3. James Collier held lands at Newton-le-Willows, d. 1674.

  4. Richard Sankey was the father of Edward S., b. 1621, who was evidently the copyist of a Sloane Masonic MS.

  5. The Ellams were of a yeoman family then long resident in the parish of Winwick, Cheshire.

  

  

Gosh, I wonder what the lodge meetings back then were like. Service club activities? 50-50 tickets?

Title page.

In time, I will look into the life stories of these men. They do not sound like obscure English countryfolk. I have to believe each is biographized in early AQC volumes.

*They used a different calendar back then, so just play along.

     

‘Do you know about the 1781 Society?’

    

New York Freemasonry has a corps of philanthropists who commit to support our Brotherhood Fund which aids distressed brethren and their families in times of need. I was late in learning about this, but it has appeared on my radar because a 1781 Society cocktail hour will cap our Masonic Con weekend in January.

(Tickets to Masonic Con New York can be had here, and there is an option to also buy tickets to the after-Con cocktail party. I’ll have much more on Masonic Con very shortly, but we have six amazing speakers booked, plus other major attractions.)

Anyway, the 1781 Society welcomes contributions of many denominations but, as the Society says: “This isn’t just a donation—it’s an invitation to become part of something truly special. Join the 1781 Society and add your name to this list of those preserving the legacy of Freemasonry in New York!”

Read all about it here.