Saturday, November 30, 2019
‘Steiner bookstore holiday sale’
The Rudolf Steiner Bookstore is offering a sale for the holiday season. All books are marked down 15 percent, and certain titles have deeper price cuts. That’s at the Anthroposophical Society’s New York City headquarters at 138 West 15th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 2 to 6 p.m., and also before and after the Society’s events. From the publicity:
When you arrive, you will notice that the subject categories have been expanded and the books are much easier to find by topic and interest. There are too many new categories to list here, but you will be happy to find expanded Art, Music, Medicine and Therapy, Agriculture, and Meditation sections. Spirituality topics are easier to find, and we have a Technology section, including both journals and books about computers, machines, and AI. Walter Alexander’s book Hearts and Minds is also in stock.
We continue to sell art supplies and Waldorf materials, like main lesson books, watercolor paints, paper, brushes, block crayons, and musical instruments. For the holiday season, you will find a larger selection of beeswax candles and handmade items for your gift purchases.
We are also currently seeking new bookstore volunteers. As a volunteer shopkeeper, you are destined to have some of the most interesting conversations with our visitors! It is a wonderful way to share Anthroposophy with the general public. You are also eligible for a 15 percent Bookstore discount on all your personal purchases. Are you curious what it takes to be our bookstore volunteer? Join us for the orientation session with tea and cookies on Saturday, December 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Rudolf Steiner Bookstore will have a mini-bookstore at the Brooklyn Waldorf School Holiday Fair December 7. We are looking for assistance with transportation and selling items. Please let us know if you have any interest in assisting.
‘UCLA’s Esotericism and Masonic Connections’
Next April will see the ninth annual International Conference on Freemasonry at UCLA, this time with the theme “Hidden Meanings: Esotericism and Masonic Connections.”
The theme is important, because the conference is moving forward without the political content that characterized previous events there, and now is organized under official California Masonic auspices.
From the publicity:
Hidden Meanings: Esotericism
and Masonic Connections
UCLA International Conference
on Freemasonry
Saturday, April 18, 2020
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
UCLA: 330 De Neve Drive
Covell Commons, Grand Horizon Room
Los Angeles
Tickets here
Freemasonry offers everyone a pathway to self-improvement, fellowship, and community. For the committed few, it holds the promise of even more.
For more than 300 years, Masonic teachings and symbolism have attracted those in search of deeper, secret meanings about the natural and even supernatural world. These esoteric pursuits, shrouded in mystery and mysticism, have endured through the centuries and even today continue to fascinate seekers around the world.
On April 18, 2020, experts and scholars on Freemasonry will meet on the campus of UCLA to discuss the eternal quest for esoteric knowledge and its broader relationship to the craft. The ninth annual UCLA International Conference on Freemasonry is a rare chance for Masons and non-Masons to dive deep on metaphysics, antiquity, and the occult.
Freemasonry and the Esoteric:
Elitism, Insecurity, and
Unenlightened Self-Interest
Ric Berman, author of several books
on Freemasonry, including Espionage, Diplomacy & the Lodge
Although Masonic esotericism hints at ancient secrets, it was in fact not widely introduced into the craft until the 1730s—a means of appealing to an elite aristocratic and mostly French audience. The success of that marriage in the eighteenth century led to Freemasonry’s systematic introduction into the United States, a consequence not of politics or spirituality but economic self-interest.
The Esotericism of the Esoteric
School of Masonic Research
Henrik Bogdan, professor of Religious Studies, University of Gothenburg
The founding of London’s Quatuor Coronati Lodge in 1884 gave birth to a new school of Masonic history and research, based on legitimate texts and study rather than the subjective or “inspired” Masonic writers of the past. However among this new school were a subset of scholars approaching research from what historian R.A. Gilbert called the “Esoteric School of Masonic Research”—part of a broader milieu of fin-de-siecle occultism.
Hidden and Visible:
Mormon Garments in Community
Nancy Ross, assistant professor, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences,
Dixie State University
Weighted with meaning, sacred (and secret) undergarments have long been a highly important, though seldom discussed, part of the Mormon church. Indeed, across religions, sacred garments like these have presented profound dilemmas and indicated deeper meanings for wearers and their broader communities.
Freemasonry and Neoplatanism
Jan Snoek, historian of religions,
Institute of Religious Studies,
University of Heidelberg
Several philosophers, expanding on the teachings of Plato, developed theories without which Freemasonry could never have found its form. From Abbot Suger’s construction of the church of St. Denis—Europe’s first gothic cathedral, dedicated to light and beauty—to the third-century parable of the sculptor who must perfect himself, meet the thinkers who paved the way for modern Masonry.
Stephen Freeman
on Antigua and London:
A Respectable Rosicrucian
Susan Mitchell Sommers, professor
of history, Saint Vincent College
The recent discovery of a single surviving pamphlet by a quack doctor, Stephen Freeman, living in Antigua in the late 18th century offers a rare glimpse into not only the thinking of a fringe medical professional, but also paints a stunning portrait of the lives of striving middle-class emigrants in the West Indies struggling for respectability. Largely by leaning on connections through societies including the Freemasons and esoteric Rosicrucians, those like Freeman hoped to improve their lot in society and find deeper meaning—in both cases, often unsuccessfully.
The UCLA International Conference is sponsored by the California Masonic Foundation and the Grand Lodge of California.
Friday, November 29, 2019
‘My new favorite thing in Freemasonry’
You know John Keats died too young in Italy in 1821, and you know P.B. Shelley died too young in Italy in 1822, but did you know there is a lodge in Rome named Keats and Shelley Lodge?
Well, there is.
The first lodge on the roll of the Gran Loggia Regolare d’Italia celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. It’s an English-language lodge (no surprise there, I guess) that meets on the fourth Saturdays of February, May, September, and November.
I don’t know if the lodge has any relationship to Keats-Shelley House.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
‘Lecture: Freemasonry in the Spanish Antilles’
The next lecture at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will bring back to the lectern Bro. Jorge Romeu. From the publicity:
An Overview of Freemasonry
in the Spanish Antilles
by Bro. Jorge Romeu
Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston
Masonic Library
71 West 23rd Street, 14th floor
Manhattan
RSVP here
This month we are proud to welcome back Bro. Jorge Romeu to present his research providing a historic overview of the history of grand lodges in the Spanish Antilles during the 19th century. Freemasonry appeared, first and briefly, in the Spanish Antilles (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic) as a result of the Haitian slave revolt at the beginning of the 19th century. Haiti’s French colonizers moved to the neighboring Spanish islands, taking Freemasonry with them. Freemasonry reappeared in the 1860s after an interlude of 30 years when it was forbidden by Spain. Freemasonry was then instrumental in these islands’ struggle for political autonomy, and eventually for independence.
Jorge Luis Romeu |
Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
‘2020 Prestonian Lecturer’
And the envelope please…
Magpie file photo |
Congratulations, Bro. Boys-Stones! Please let me know if your travels bring you to the United States, particularly the New York City area. I have some experience in arranging Prestonian speaking engagements.
George Boys-Stones |
Click here to see other books.
A Prestonian Lecturer is appointed every year by the United Grand Lodge of England in a tradition commenced in 1818, thanks to a bequest to the Grand Lodge from William Preston, that has gone uninterrupted excepting for the years of the Second World War (if I recall correctly).
Having attempted myself to speak a number of times on the Four Cardinal Virtues, I’m very eager to hear this Prestonian Lecture because I glossed over Aristotle, jumping from Plato to Aquinas.
Labels:
Aristotle,
G.B. Boys-Stones,
Prestonian Lecture
‘John Acaster, R.I.P.’
There are times when news of someone’s death makes you gasp loudly in disbelief and dismay, and that was the case for me today upon learning of the loss yesterday of Bro. John Acaster.
I’ll enjoy fond memories of chatting with him about things Masonic, especially things Masonic education. He was one of the greats. He founded several Craft lodges and a Royal Arch chapter. He was a scholar and Past Master for QC2076 and Manchester Lodge of Research, and was a joy to hear from the lectern.
Magpie file photo
This seems to be my only photo of John Acaster, center, in dark blue regalia. Taken at Alpha Lodge 116, December 2007.
|
It was about 12 years ago that I first met him. It was a special event at historic Alpha Lodge 116, but it was after hours, downstairs in the dining room, where I got to talk with John at length about his enthusiasm for focused research and for general learning. If I’m not mistaken, he would have marked his golden anniversary in Freemasonry next year.
What got to me was how I considered him “the young one” of the Quatuor Coronati members.
Rest in peace.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
‘Wellness services planned for New Rochelle’
MW Bro. William M. Sardone, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, released a brief statement today on the subject of the acquisition of the campus of the former College of New Rochelle (see previous two Magpie posts). Excerpted:
“For several years and with the support of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, the Trustees have been searching for a suitable site closer to the Metropolitan New York City area. This long-range plan was to bring some of the services available in Utica, New York closer to Masons who live in the New York City area. When it was learned that the former campus of the College of New Rochelle became available, it was acknowledged that this property would not only provide that opportunity, but also wellness services to a larger community.”
Monday, November 25, 2019
‘Bankruptcy court approves Grand Lodge college purchase’
Courtesy WCBS/Channel 2 |
News story here.
Now we await an announcement from the 17th floor disclosing our fraternity’s intention for the property.
More Magpie information here.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
‘Grand Lodge acquiring defunct college property’
UPDATED INFO HERE.
Courtesy Bloomberg News |
With a winning bid of $32 million, the Grand Lodge of New York prevailed days ago in an auction of the 16-acre campus of the former College of New Rochelle, according to a news report published late last night.
No, me neither.
Courtesy Westchester Magazine |
No title has been transferred yet. Tomorrow a hearing in bankruptcy court will convene to discuss approval of this plan. The College of New Rochelle went bankrupt in September in a criminal financial fraud leaving behind liabilities of approximately $80 million.
The buyer actually is the Masonic Hall & Asylum Fund, which is the corporation entrusted with the management of Grand Lodge’s real properties, from Masonic Hall in Manhattan to the Masonic Care Community in Utica, and also DeWint House and Camp Turk.
Courtesy Athletic Business
Campus Wellness Center. |
The property is located in Westchester County, located northeast of Manhattan and near the Connecticut border, less than 20 miles from midtown via I-95.
Courtesy New York Times
Leland Castle, built in the 1850s and landmarked, is part of the campus. |
Read all about it here. These photos of the campus are culled from assorted news sources.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
‘Congratulations to one in a million’
On Thursday, the inimitable, irrepressible, and inspiring Jim Hogg was honored in the United Grand Lodge of England, where he was made a Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden!
Jim is a Florida Mason who holds dual membership in UGLE’s Internet Lodge 9659, where he served as Worshipful Master. He was one of only six brethren so honored from among the 166 lodges of the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire. This is the highest honor that may be bestowed on a brother by a Provincial Grand Master. The brethren enjoyed a meeting and festive board at King George’s Hall in Blackburn.
To know Jim is to love him—and to groan in incurable agony at the ceaseless torrent of puns and cracks he improvises throughout his waking hour. And likely in his slumbers too!
He also is a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society, where he served a number of years on our Board of Directors, so I can attest to his outstanding leadership qualities.
Congratulations, Jim! Wear that beautiful regalia in good health for many years.
Photos courtesy Jim Hogg |
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
‘Speakers Bureau is a go’
Illinois Lodge of Research announced Saturday the launch of a speakers bureau. More than 60(!) Masons have said they would travel the state to present topics of Masonic interest.
It’s not a free-for-all. The speakers are vetted. Suitable topics are understood in three denominations: history, symbolism/esoterica, and ritual/literature.
Read all about it here.
Bravo, brethren!
Monday, November 18, 2019
‘The Working Tool for the holiday season’
Straight from the publicity:
The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association is proud to offer for the 2019 holiday season a beautiful gold and enamel plated ornament—The Working Tool: United in Brotherly Love.
This ornament unites several essential Masonic symbols that illustrate the crucial and divine lesson of brotherly love. The triangular frame, topped by the Masonic emblem over a sky blue circle, represents the fraternity. The raised Trowel is every Master Mason’s primary tool. As the Trowel spreads the cement that unites the many different stones or bricks of a building into a single, strong whole, so Master Masons spread brotherly love to unite men throughout the world. Behind the Trowel shines the Blazing Star, an ancient Masonic symbol of Divine Providence, representing the divine nature of brotherhood. As President and Brother George Washington used an ivory-handled trowel to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol, the trowel inspires Masons to use brotherly love to overcome their differences. The new American Republic united all the states under the motto E Pluribus Unum, “from many, one.”
To order yours, please visit our website here.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
‘Great day planned for MMRS’
It’s that time of year for elections and installations of officers, and Maryland Masonic Research Society will meet for its annual meeting on Saturday, December 7 for a nicely well rounded gathering.
9:15 a.m. – a light breakfast will be served ($12 per person).
10:15 – the meeting, with a presentation by S. Brent Morris on “A Timeline of High Degree Masonry,” and the “very quickly done” elections/installations.
Then a tour of Freemasons Hall, the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Maryland.
The group asks for a $5 entrance fee to defray the costs of renting the Gothic Room.
Kindly book your seat for breakfast no later than Tuesday, December 3 by writing the secretary here.
All Masons and their guests are welcome to attend.
From the publicity:
“A Timeline of High Degree Masonry” focuses on the remarkably complex and interconnected group of Masonic organizations. We will begin our exploration from the base, where the Craft Degrees are controlled by Grand Lodges, and grafted onto these are “High Degrees” that expand and amplify the basic Craft ceremonies. This talk traces the first appearance and growth of High Degrees from the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge to the creation of the first Supreme Council in 1801.
Courtesy Dummkopf Blog |
The tour will follow Brent’s lecture and will be led by Stephen J. Ponzillo and Edward Heimiller.
Freemasons Hall is located at 304 International Circle in Cockeysville, Maryland. Free parking is available.
‘Lecture: Origins of Masonry’
The Origins of Masonry:
from Operative to Speculative
by RW Andrew Paine
Tuesday, December 3 at 7 p.m.
Masonic Hall, Manhattan
Doric Room on 8
We are honored and privileged to have RW Andrew Paine presenting this lecture, and we invite brethren of your lodge to attend. Candidates are welcome to attend, accompanied by their lodge sponsor.
Reserve by email here with your name, lodge, and degree, and write “Masonic Light with RW Andrew Paine” in the subject line. Your current membership card will be needed at the door. Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.
Dinner to follow, at $35 per person, in the Jacobean Room.
‘Tuesday: 1919 time capsule opened’
Last month, a time capsule installed a century ago inside the cornerstone of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital at the Masonic Care Community in Utica was excavated and opened by the new director of the Livingston Library and Grand Master Sardone. On Tuesday night, the treasures formerly kept and concealed will be shown to the brethren at Masonic Hall. From the publicity:
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston
Masonic Library
Monthly Lecture Series
1919 Time Capsule
from the Soldiers and Sailors
Memorial Hospital Cornerstone
Tuesday, November 19 at 6 p.m.
Masonic Hall, Manhattan
French Ionic Room on 10
Bro. Fellow Craft Alexander Vastola, of Yorktown-Diamond Thistle Lodge 55, director of the library, will reveal the contents of the time capsule, and will discuss the histories of the artifacts and their donors. Prior to becoming library director, Vastola worked as the archives assistant for the Century Association Archives Foundation, as an archives consultant for Jan Hird Pokorny Associates, Inc., and as a researcher for the New York Preservation Archive Project. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Vassar College, a Certificate in Museum Studies from SUNY Purchase, and a Master of Library and Information Science Degree, with a Certificate in Archives, from Pratt Institute’s School of Information.
Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall. Please book your seat by writing the library here.
‘See the original “Garibaldi” degree!’
Okay, so you attended Garibaldi Lodge two weeks ago to witness the amazing 18th century French Rite ceremony of initiation, and were duly dazzled by the Rosicrucian ritual elements you had no idea existed in Masonic rites—well, now you can visit the lodge that gave Garibaldi its Entered Apprentice ritual, and experience it in its original French.
That lodge, l’Union Française 17, also in the Tenth Manhattan District, will confer the EA° on two aspirants Tuesday night. (In fact, No. 17 is the eldest lodge in the Tenth Manhattan, dating to 1797. This was J.J.J. Gourgas’ lodge.)
This will take place on the tenth floor inside the French Doric Room, a small space—tiny compared to the Grand Lodge Room, where hundreds visit Garibaldi—where we sideliners really can view the ritualists’ labors. The lodge shall open at 6 p.m. The degree will begin at 6:45. No one will be admitted after the degree has started.
As you reasonably may expect of a French lodge, there will be a sumptuous feast afterward. That’s $45 per person, cash, which covers everything, including wine, taxes, and gratuities.
Bring your photo identification to enter Masonic Hall, and your current membership card to enter the lodge, but leave the French-English dictionary at home. You’ll be able to follow along despite the language barrier. (I’d see you there, but urgent Grotto business awaits downstairs.) Enjoy!
Saturday, November 2, 2019
'Masonic Week registration is open'
To get started, click here.
Remember, the Masonic Society dinner-meeting on Friday night costs only $55 per person. A sirloin entree will be served. Open to all Freemasons and guests.
Come hear Bro. Mark Tabbert present the keynote: "A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry."
This will be our Annual Meeting, with elections of officers, presenting new Fellows, and other exciting announcements.
Friday, October 25, 2019
‘Garibaldi Lodge’s EAº in November’
Bust of MW Giuseppe Garibaldi by RW Anthony Cuonzo, presented to MW Vincent Libone in 2010. |
What draws hundreds of Masons eager to make an advancement in Masonic knowledge is the 18th century French Rite ritual that is delivered in the Italian language. Unless you are from a Red Lodge or other Craft lodge that works European rituals, this First Degree is very unlike anything your lodge does. It is worlds apart from the Preston-Webb-Cross rituals known in almost every jurisdiction in America, as it is heavily laden with Rosicrucian and Alchemical symbolism. To be clear, it is a wholly Masonic ritual. Furthermore, it is easy to follow the action even with the foreign tongue being spoken.
Arrive at Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan) by 6 p.m. Bring your apron and membership card, and be prepared to work your way into a tiled Masonic lodge at labor. Apprentices and Fellows are welcome—they need only be avouched by a Master Mason—and in fact are seated in the East with the dignitaries.
I’d say the evening should end by around ten o’clock.
The lodge needs a headcount. (The first time I visited for this degree, about ten years ago, hundreds of Pennsylvania Masons had to be turned away because the Fire Department would not permit them inside the room, which already was packed to capacity with about 1,200 Masons.) So contact the lodge secretary here to report how many are in your party.
It’s a must see, and is one of the most talked about events on the Masonic calendar in New York. See you there.
Monday, October 14, 2019
‘Masonic school named National Historic Place’
In a press release from last Monday, the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced the addition of a landmark Masonic site to America’s National Register of Historic Places. The press release:
Only school in the U.S.
founded by Masons
named to National Register
of Historic Places
The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources has announced that the building first known as the New England Masonic Charitable Institute in Effingham has been honored by the United States Secretary of the Interior with placement on the National Register of Historic Places, for both its architecture and for its role in the history and development of the Town of Effingham.
Built in 1858, the two-and-a-half story New England Masonic Charitable Institute is the only large public building in Effingham. Its Italianate details include boxed eaves with paired scroll-sawn brackets, corner quoins and a heavy hood over the main entrance.
The building’s elaborate three-stage tower has a Masonic seal on the front and clock faces on the two adjacent sides. Its octagonal open belfry protects the 1863 bell, which was used during World War II for air-raid warnings.
Founded by the Charter Oak Lodge No. 58 of Free and Accepted Masons, the New England Masonic Charitable Institute is the only school in the United States known to have been run by the Masons. Opened as a coed institution in the fall of 1861, its ceased school operations in the early 1880s.
Charter Oak Lodge No. 58 sold the building to the Town of Effingham in 1891 for one dollar but retained rights to the second floor in perpetuity. The walls and ceilings of the Lodge’s temple space are covered with trompe l’oeil murals attributed to Boston painter Philip A. Butler. Images of classic sculptures, architectural details and Masonic symbols, including the All-Seeing Eye, are incorporated into the paintings. Heavily water-damaged in the late 1980s, they have since been restored.
The first floor, which was originally a single classroom for the Institute, served as Effingham’s town hall from 1891 to 2005. Established in 1893, the town library initially shared space with the town hall but has been the sole occupant of the first floor since 2005.
A Veterans Memorial, installed near the entrance in 1933 when town offices were in the building, includes a bronze plaque mounted on a rectangular piece of granite. It lists all Effingham men who served in the Revolutionary War, the Great Britain-United States War, Civil War, and the World Wars.
Administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of historic resources worthy of preservation and is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect our historic and archaeological resources.
Listing to the National Register does not impose any new or additional restrictions or limitations on the use of private or non-federal properties. Listings identify historically significant properties and can serve as educational tools and increase heritage tourism opportunities. The rehabilitation of National Register-listed commercial or industrial buildings may qualify for certain federal tax provisions.
In New Hampshire, listing to the National Register makes applicable property owners eligible for grants such as the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program or LCHIP and the Conservation License Plate Program.
For more information on the National Register program in New Hampshire, please visit or contact the Division of Historical Resources at 603-271-3583.
New Hampshire’s Division of Historical Resources, the State Historic Preservation Office, was established in 1974 and is part of the N.H. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. NHDHR’s mission is to preserve and celebrate New Hampshire’s irreplaceable historic resources through programs and services that provide education, stewardship, and protection. For more information, visit us online here or call 603-271-3483.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
‘Freemasonry in Latin American revolution’
Pelham Lodge 712 in the Bronx has an interesting lecture scheduled for Tuesday night. Please RSVP to the Junior Warden here. The lodge meets in the City Island Masonic Temple at 241 City Island Avenue.
Click to enlarge. |
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