Universal Freemasonry
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
The Mystery: Why Does It Matter?
“Why
do you care whether there is a God, or extraterrestrials,
reincarnation, or any of that? What relevance does it have to your
life?”
This
is a question which I have often heard, in one form or another, when
bringing up topics related to the mysteries of life, from those who are
not typically inclined to ponder them. Personally, I have always found
the mysteries irresistible, so this common refrain has always been
somewhat baffling to me. How could you really not care
whether there is a God, or extra-terrestrial life? Such apathy toward
the ultimate questions of life seems unfathomable, to me.
Indeed,
those who find themselves involved in Freemasonry are generally those
who are inclined to explore these questions, and this is part of what
draws us to the craft, esotericism in general, and what is often
referred to literally as The Mysteries.
This is also why the fellowship of a brotherhood of truth seekers is so
precious to those who find it, because our kind so often feel alone in a
world full of those who care more about their bank balance, newest
electronic gadget, or mundane interpersonal dramas than the quest for
ultimate reality.
So,
like a fish trying to describe the ocean, for a long time it was
difficult for me to articulate why these things matter to me so much
when this question arose. However, I eventually did manage to create
some semblance of an explanation, which I would like to share with you
now. Perhaps by reading this, you will have a new answer in your
repertoire the next time someone asks why you seek truth.
The
short version is: I care about the mystery because the mystery is the
ultimate context of my existence, and context is absolutely everything;
the context of a thing defines that thing and gives it meaning. Allow me
to explicate.
The Universal Existential Constant
The
human condition is defined by a finite or limited conscious existence,
and a mystery beyond it. In fact, I believe that this is probably the
condition of not just humans, but any entity, since any finite
consciousness is always limited, by definition. If it had no limits, it
would not be an “entity,” it would be infinite.
In
other words, there are things you directly experience, and there are
things beyond that, with a gradient boundary between them. Regardless of
how far your awareness may expand, there is, a priori, always a boundary to it and always something beyond that boundary, which to you is a mystery.
The
only possible exception to this would be if our awareness became
infinite, perhaps, but we cannot really imagine that. Barring the
hypothetical exception of infinity, there is always a boundary to
conscious existence, and therefore, a mystery beyond it.
This
would presumably also be true for any self-aware finite entity, from
the lowliest worm to the most vast super-intelligent species, or even
advanced spiritual beings. If they are not infinite, then it seems to me
that their existence must have this structure: the known, the unknown,
and the boundary between.
The Existential Island in an Ocean of Mind
One
helpful metaphor is to think of our existence as a sphere, like a
planet. That planet has its basic substance or ground, which for us is
our direct sensory awareness. These are the things we are most certain
of, because we directly experience them, and in this metaphor, they are
our ground or earth, which also relates to our colloquial sayings about
being “grounded” in reality. This is the reality to which we refer, our
most certain, sensory reality, the bedrock of our experience.
Then,
there is another layer which is beyond the ground of sensory
experience, but which is near enough to be relatively certain; you can
liken this to the atmosphere of our metaphorical “planet” of existence.
For us, these would be facts outside of our senses, but nevertheless
trustworthy, thanks to evidence and logic (to put it briefly).
For
instance, I can be relatively certain that oxygen exists, a faraway
country like Russia is really there, and that I have a liver, even
though I’ve never truly seen or experienced any of those things. Thus,
there are things I have not directly experienced, yet of which I am
relatively certain. Here is where the boundary begins.
Finally,
beyond that of which we are relatively certain, there is the larger
Mystery, about which we ponder, and upon which we weave the fabric of
our beliefs, by combining reason with imagination. To continue our
planet metaphor, this would be the vast starry expanse in which our
planet is suspended. Just as the cosmos is the context of a planet,
whatever is beyond the boundaries of the ground and atmosphere of our
existence forms the context of it.
Thus,
the mystery is the context of our existence, and is experienced purely
in the realm of imagination, hopefully tempered by reason. Regardless of
what is actually “out there” beyond what we know with varying degrees
of certainty, our experiential existence floats in a cosmos of mind and
imagination because we can only imagine and reason about what is beyond
the boundary of our experience and certainty.
Not
only that, but no matter how far we expand our knowledge and
experience, it always will float in an ocean of imagination and mystery,
because that seems to be the inherent structure of any finite,
experiential entity. How else could it be?
Context is Everything
So,
“Fine,” you might say, “the mystery is the context; why should the
context matter to me?” My answer to this is that the meaning of anything
essentially is derived from its context. Let’s take a very concrete
example: a bar fight.
Let’s
say that you witness a fight break out between two men in a bar. If you
know absolutely nothing about the context of this fight, it will mean
very little to you; perhaps you may have some thoughts about the
volatility of alcohol and testosterone when combined in too great a
quantity. In other words, to you, it is a relatively meaningless
occurrence.
Let’s
say that you now expand your knowledge, when someone tells you that the
reason they fought is that one man was sleeping with the other’s wife.
Now, to you, this is a very different bar fight, is it not? Yet, it is
the same bar fight; it is the context of it in your own mind and
imagination that has changed. Let’s say that you hear from yet another
person that the reason the affair occurred in the first place is that
the husband was abusing her; yet again, another vastly different bar
fight.
Let’s
say, hypothetically, that your spiritual “third eye” suddenly opened,
and you were able to see that this was an unfolding of karmic patterns
through time that had been in motion for thousands of years between
these two souls, as they weave a pattern of flesh-bound experiences in
and out of various bodies and lifetimes, trying to find a balance and
transcend the illusory nature of this physical reality, for their
ultimate mutual enlightenment. Yet again, a totally new bar fight, with a
totally different meaning.
Why?
Because with every expansion of your knowledge of the context of the
fight, your experience of the fight transforms. The same is true of your
entire experiential existence, the same principle is in operation every
time you learn, and explore the mysteries.
That,
my friends, is my answer to the question of why the mystery matters. To
me, this is like something I had always subtly known but for the
longest time had difficulty articulating. Perhaps it may strike you the
same way, as almost obvious, yet novel in it’s explanation; or, perhaps
you somehow disagree, in which case I would love to hear your
perspective.
Either way, I hope that you have enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!
The Sacred Tetractys: Why do Freemasons connect the dots?
If
Pythagoras found himself transported to the modern world, he would have
much to learn about technology, science, and human thought. But is there
something Pythagoras can still teach us today in his symbol of the
tetractys? What do the dots reveal? How is it significant to
Freemasonry?
To start
with, tetractys refers to a symbol of the Pythagoreans which consists of
four rows of dots containing one, two, three, and four dots
respectively which form an equilateral triangle. Many have found the
tetractys full of sublime meaning.
When did the
tetractys first come about? To answer this question may be more
difficult. Very little is known about the real Pythagoras, or rather too
much is “known” about him, but most of it is surely mistaken. The
biographical trail is scattered with contradictions. It combines the
sublime, the absurd, the inconceivable, and the just plain weird.
The
teachings are elusive because he never wrote anything down. His
treatises are only known to us through other Greek researchers.
Consequently, it is up to present-day scholars (and there are many) to
sift through these works in order to find a common thread that can be
genuinely ascribed to Pythagoras. 
We do know
that Pythagoras was born in Samos in the sixth century B.C.E. Pythagoras
was both a mystic and a scientist, although some scholars tend to
praise his mathematical prowess while looking away with embarrassment at
his perceived “mysticism.” For Pythagoreans, they were one and the
same.
The Science of Number
was the cornerstone of the Pythagoreans. It describes, if not yet
everything, at least something very important about physical reality,
namely the sizes and shapes of the objects that inhabit it.
The Pythagoreans influenced the world by the simple expression:
“All is number.” – Pythagoras
What Did Pythagoras mean by this famous motto “All is Number?”
Is it
possible to listen to this message today afresh, with Pythagorean ears?
What teaching does the tetractys offer a Freemason?
The Tetractys: A Masonic Lecture by William Preston (1772)
Freemasons
in earlier times thought highly of Pythagorean philosophy. Brother
Manly Palmer Hall, a 33° Mason dedicated an entire chapter in his work “The Secret Teachings of all Ages” to the both mystical and philosophical qualities of Pythagorean numbers.
Hall wrote:
“The ten dots, or Tetractys of Pythagoras, was a symbol of the greatest importance, for to the discerning mind it revealed the mystery of universal nature.”
Hall states that if one examines the tetractys symbolically a wealth of otherwise hidden wisdom begins to reveal itself.
The
Prestonian Lectures (1772) give us further insight into some of the
possible masonic thinking on the tetractys in the 1800’s. It was the
subject in one of the series of lectures written by Brother William
Preston for instruction and education of the Lodge members.
An excerpt of the Lecture (1772) goes as follows:
“The Pythagorean philosophers and their ancestors considered a Tetractys or No. 4:
- 1st as containing the decad;
- 2nd as completing an entire and perfect triangle;
- 3rd as comprising the 4 great principles of arithmetic and geometry;
- 4th as representing in its several points the 4 elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, and collectively the whole system of the universe;
- Lastly as separately typifying the 4 external principles of existence, generation, emanation, creation and preservation, thence collectively denoting the Great Architect of the Universe Wherefore to swear by the Tetractys was their most sacred and inviolate oath.”
In other
words, it is taught to Freemasons that a four-fold pattern permeates the
natural world, examples of which are the point, line, surface and solid
and the four elements earth, water, air and fire. Musically they
represent the perfect consonants: the unison, the octave, the fifth and
the fourth.
The Divine Creator in Freemasonry is sometimes referred to as The Great “Architect” or Grand “Geometrician”
always building the universe through the creative tools of the
geometer. Tetractys itself can be interpreted as a divine blueprint of
creation. 
Some say
that Pythagoras and his successors had two ways of teaching, one for the
profane, and one for the initiated. The first was clear and unveiled,
the second was symbolic and enigmatic. In order to achieve mastery of
this universe, a person has to discover the veiled meaning of numbers
hidden in all things.
I have often wondered if we could hypothetically peer into the mind of the Grand Geometrician, and the veil was lifted, what design would we see?
The Grand Design
Perhaps we would see how the Master Builder
has ordered all things by measure and number and weight. Throughout the
structure of the universe the properties of number are manifested.
Geometry is fundamental to the work of the masonic builders. It is
engaged with the first configurations of the Plan upon which the form is
erected and the idea materialized.
Examining numbers symbolically, they represent more than quantities; they also have qualities. Brother H. P. Blavatsky in the “Secret Doctrine”
tells us the numbers are entities. They are mysterious. They are
essential to all forms. They are to be found in the realm of essential
consciousness. They are clues to our evolution.
Blavatsky
emphasizes that the study of numbers is not only a way of understanding
nature, but it is also a means of turning the mind away from the
physical world which Pythagoras held to be transitory and unreal,
leading to the contemplation of the “real.”
Personally, I
find that the masonic teachings in all their many symbolic forms a good
way to study numbers. The reason I continually come back to Pythagorean
philosophy is the tradition of music theory. In music, the Divine
patterns of the Grand Geometrician are expressed in musical
ratios. Harmony through sound, therefore, can be applied to all
phenomena of nature, even going so far as to demonstrate the harmonic
relationship of the planets, constellations, elements and everything,
really. The reason being that all life vibrates, like the string. 
Why do
Freemasons connect the dots? Like many symbols, the tetractys can lead a
craftsman down a rabbit hole of self-discovery. By rabbit hole, I mean a
portal into a mysterious and infinite wonderland of formulas filled
with beauty, confusion and intrigue – a place to encounter all sorts of
adventures with concepts beyond our wildest dreams that keeps us coming
back for more.
“The more deeply we study the processes of nature the greater in every direction becomes our admiration for the wonderful work of Him who made it all.”
– C.W. Leadbeader
Note: The full Prestonian Lecture on the Tetractys and Masonic Geometry can be referenced in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, Volume 83.
Service: Why Do We Help?
If
you were to ask five different people of five different belief systems
why it’s important to serve others, you’d probably get five somewhat
different answers. For instance, a Hindu might say that it will accrue
positive karma, a Christian that it’s to spread the love of Christ, and
perhaps a scientific atheist might say that it simply reduces the amount
of suffering in the world, and that is reason enough.
The
teaching that we should serve others is almost universal in the various
religions and wisdom teachings of mankind, although their stated
reasons may vary, as one might expect. To most of us, it seems obvious
that it is good to serve others, to help those in need. But as
Freemasons, what is our explanation? Why do we help?
Freemasonry
defines itself as an organization based on service to humanity, and
masons throughout history have spoken on the subject of service to
humanity extensively, and focused heavily on both charity and
enlightenment. As with every other philosophy or belief system, our
perspective on service is deeply rooted in the masonic perspective on
humanity’s essential nature, and destiny.
An
important caveat is necessary, here: technically, there is no single
“masonic perspective,” because each mason chooses for him or herself how
they think about any given topic. Freemasonry is a fellowship among
truth-seekers, not an orthodox belief system. Therefore, the ideas
presented here are in no sense meant to be understood as universally
accepted by all masons.
The Vector of Human Evolution
In
Freemasonry, and the Western esoteric traditions in general, we do
generally have a particular perspective on humanity’s purpose. We do not
typically view it in the way that some religions might, which is often
the idea that humanity was created merely to worship and please a deity,
nor do we generally believe that humanity’s existence is randomly
purposeless, a chance occurrence in an otherwise dead and meaningless
universe, as might those skeptics who believe only what science can
prove.
One of the most deeply-held core values of freemasonry is that humanity does in fact have a teleological vector,
which is a fancy philosophical way of saying that we believe humanity
has a purpose, a trajectory, an inherent potential which each and all of
us are in the process of unfolding. We may have differing ideas about
what that purpose entails, or what its ultimate goal is, but the common
thread is that we believe a process is taking place which involves a
perfecting or evolution of each person, so that we eventually become
something more and better than what we were before, both individually
and collectively.
In
fact, it is this vector which underlies the current and overall purpose
of Freemasonry. This is one understanding of what we term The Great Work, the progression towards the highest potential in the self, and in humanity as a whole.
Service in Context
So, what does all of this have to do with service, you might ask?
If
we believe that all people have this higher potential which is yet to
be unfolded, then our chief task in this world must be to unfurl it in
our self, as well as to do whatever possible to help the people we come
into contact with to do the same. In other words, to catalyze and cultivate the process of human evolution towards our destiny. That is my attempt to encapsulate the essence of service, from the perspective of the esoteric wisdom teachings.
When
most people think of service and charity, they probably wouldn’t think
about contributing to our evolutionary process. We might simply think
it’s the “right thing to do,” or that our compassion simply compels us
to do so. People are suffering, so we do what we can to provide relief;
many people are lacking in knowledge, so we do what we can to provide
insight and enlightenment. If we are able, we help those who are not
able. For many, it feels almost written into our DNA. Why do we need an
explanation?
These
reasons are good enough, insomuch as they spur us to action. However,
in my opinion, the best possible understanding of the purpose of service
must necessarily be embedded in, and in alignment with the purpose of
our entire existence. To me, there is value in seeing things in the
larger context of what we ultimately believe about ourselves, our
species, and the universe itself.
Climbing the Pyramid
Any
of us who are blessed enough to have found some measure of spiritual
awakening in this life find ourselves in a peculiar situation, in
respect to our relationship with the rest of humanity.
It
is a fact of life, and has been for as long as there have been those
who wake up to some degree, that the majority of humans exist in a state
of confusion and suffering. This suffering is not purely economic,
although poverty is a real problem. Those who have their basic needs
taken care of, or even those who live in lavish luxury, can and do still
suffer a great deal on an emotional, social, and soul level. And this
is precisely the state which we ourselves seek to extricate ourselves
from.
Yet,
we know from the understandings handed down to us from various wisdom
teachings that each of those confused and suffering people contains a
divine spark, and the potential to ignite that spark, and transmute
their suffering, thereby transforming into a vibrant, soulful, and
purposeful human being. Whether we know it or not, I believe that this
is the ultimate purpose of service, not simply to reduce suffering to
reach some state of equilibrium, but to free up resources to realize a
higher potential in each person.
Many readers will be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,
perhaps from Psychology 101. For those who aren’t familiar, it is a
model of human needs which arranges them in a pyramidal structure,
grouped into levels, each needing to be satisfied before the next level
can be advanced. At the base are the most basic, biological needs, and
they transition up the pyramid into emotional and social needs, with the
capstone being self-realization, the fulfillment of some transcendent
purpose that is beyond all the others below it. The key idea is that one
must take care of the needs in sequence, from bottom to top. If the
basic needs are not addressed, the higher needs will remain unfulfilled.
So,
if the capstone of that pyramid is equivalent to the destiny towards
which we are moving, and which we hope to assist all of humanity in
achieving, then helping those around us means helping them move beyond
the level where they currently exist. For those whose basic needs still
are unsatisfied, we would not necessarily hand the deepest teachings of
soul wisdom. It may simply be that they need food to eat or a roof over
their head. For yet others, mental/emotional stability may be their
current requirement. Yet, in all of these, the reason we help is the
movement towards that capstone of ultimate good, even transcendence.
In
this way, if we wish to be good servants to our Creator and our
fellows, it’s helpful to first be able to recognize which service is
required, depending on where that person is at, and how we are best
equipped to provide it. This begins with a concrete conceptual model of
the hierarchy of needs, as well as the ultimate goal.
Tending the Garden
I
find the garden to be a useful metaphor both in inner work, as well as
work with other people. To me, the relationship between those who wish
to serve a higher purpose and the rest of life and humanity is similar
to the relationship of a gardener to a garden. In this vein, we are not
the sole rescuers or providers of the essential life processes. Rather,
we should best view ourselves as Life’s humble and equanimous
attendants.
We
cannot make the garden grow, the flowers blossom, or the vegetables
ripen, but we can water them, prune them, prop them up when they have
fallen, and dig out the weeds. If more of us are wise, conscientious,
and faithful stewards, then the garden of human civilization will be
more sweet with the scent of compassion, bright with the colors of
inspired expression, and fulfilling with the fruits of human
self-actualization.
The Freemason’s Words: Can the Secrets be Googled?
In a
discussion with a few masonic friends recently, someone asked the
question: Why are oral traditions fading away? One could dispute the
premise. Still, I think the brother was onto something. Are oral
traditions still relevant? Are they slowly being replaced with
technology?
In its
plainest form, an oral tradition is information passed down through the
generations by word of mouth that is not written. Examples might be
legends, stories, proverbs, riddles and so on. Certain modes of
recognition, including masonic words and passwords are considered part
of the oral tradition in Freemasonry.
Where did
masonic customs originate? The tradition becomes more understandable if
we look back before the 1600’s. At that time, masonic lodges were
stonemasons’ guilds of builders whose “secrets” concerned how to
construct buildings. The hidden modes of
recognition, whether they were certain passwords or handshakes, were a
way to identify an impostor passing himself off as the real thing. The
“operative” masons were artisans that were the best at their craft.
recognition, whether they were certain passwords or handshakes, were a
way to identify an impostor passing himself off as the real thing. The
“operative” masons were artisans that were the best at their craft.
For reasons
that are still not entirely clear, lodges evolved from “operative” to
“speculative” builders. The “speculative” masons were different in that
they became more interested in arcane studies. Their secrets were no
longer building trade secrets but based on moral and philosophical
concepts. When Masonry identified itself as a speculative craft, it
placed the meanings of its allegories and symbols within a realm that is
more esoteric.
Some say
that these more esoteric secrets were inspired from ancient traditions –
such as Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism, or Hermeticism – however the
theory is hotly debated. An opposite view is that the passwords in
freemasonry are not meaningful at all. They are not particularly
earth-shattering, nor are they exactly secret. I have heard many times
recently – “just google them.”
This current debate begs the question. When it comes to a mason’s words, are they a meaningless carry-over from former times? Or to the contrary, do they have some 
deeper significance for masons today?
deeper significance for masons today?
Definitions by Albert G. Mackey
Usually when
I have a question or questions that I have been wondering about, I must
confess I use any resource available, including the internet to
research that topic and related topics. At the same time, I am very
careful. There are many things that I will read “everyone knows” that
are simply untrue. It is amazing how many things fit this category.
Often when confronted with some sort of puzzle in masonic research I go to Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry. In this case, he lays out some very interesting distinctions between the various kinds of masonic words.
Mackey gives several different definitions –
- Recognition Word: Identifies one brother to another as a means of recognition.
- Lost Word: Relates to the mythical history of a venerated lost word in which a temporary word was substituted.
- Sacred Word: Applies to the unique word of each degree, to indicate its peculiarly sacred character.
- Significant Word: Used as a word that is equivalent to a sign in each degree of the craft.
- True Word: Indicates a symbol of Divine Truth.
As you can easily see, he illustrates a hierarchy of words. Some words, like recognition words, are more matter of fact, the ones that can be transmitted mouth to ear. But other words, like the True Word are more mysterious. The True Word, he says, is the most philosophic and sublime.
The Word becomes the symbol of Divine Truth, the loss of which and the search for it constitute the whole system of Speculative Freemasonry. ~ Bro. Albert Mackey
Is it
possible, then, that the real secrets of Masonry cannot be heard by the
ear or uttered in words? If this is true, where are the secrets hidden?
When faced
with deep philosophical questions it’s sometimes nice to look at
old allegories for wisdom. Here’s one of my favorites.
Man’s Divinity: Where to Hide the Stolen Jewel?
There was a time in the history of the race when the gods stole from man his divinity, and meeting in a high conclave, sought to decide where to hide that which they had stolen.One god suggested that they hide it on another planet, for there man could not find it, but another god arose and said that man was innately a great traveler and they had no guarantee that, eventually, he might not find his way there.“Let us,” he said, “hide it in the depths of the sea, at the bottom of the ocean for there it will be safe.”But again, a dissenting voice was heart, and it was pointed out that man was great natural investigator, and that he might someday succeed in penetrating to the deepest depths, as well, as the greatest heights.
(As you
might suspect, the problematic discussion ends with one member of the
conclave suggesting as the final hiding place the following location…)
“Let us hide the stolen jewel of man’s divinity within himself, for there he will never look for it.”*
The Secrets of True Masonry
Sometimes
when we think of The Craft, we only think of meetings, dues, minutes,
and rituals, etc. True Masonry, however, is a system of enlightenment.
It is a quest for the hidden within us, the precious jewel. The Lodge is
a bastion of virtue. Add to this the desire to live the high principles
of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. Then add the passion for
creativity to make the “builder’s art” truly artistic through the Arts
and Sciences.
BEHOLD! You have found the true secrets of Masonry.
Like all the things most worth knowing, no one can know it for another, and no one can 
know
it alone. It is known only in fellowship – by the touch of life upon
life, hand to hand, breast to breast, spirit upon spirit.
know
it alone. It is known only in fellowship – by the touch of life upon
life, hand to hand, breast to breast, spirit upon spirit.
The secrets
are a way for Masons to bond with another. It’s something we all share
together. Each person knows “The Word” according to his own quest and
capacity.
Humanity has
always been filled with curiosity about things unknown or unseen. I
like to think that oral traditions have not disappeared. Their settings
may change, but their power and use remain.
Can the
secrets be Googled? Sure, you may find some interesting facts about the
Craft. In the end, however, the best hiding places for the mason’s
mysteries are where we least expect them.
The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue, and the mysteries of Freemasonry are safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts. ~ Masonic Monitor
*Note: The ancient allegory can be referenced in Foster Bailey’s Spirit of Masonry.
Can You Make the Climb?
The Three Initiates, who authored the book The Kybalion, speak of seven Hermetic principles that guide the Universe. One of those principles is the Law of Polarity.
In brief, this law says that qualities such as love and hate, fear and
confusion, etc. are truly the same quality of life that differs only in
gradient.
The Kybalion uses a great exemplar when it mentions hot and cold. There is no scientific line drawing the
thermometer in half saying, “any object who measures above this number is hot and any that falls below is cold.”
thermometer in half saying, “any object who measures above this number is hot and any that falls below is cold.”
There is no
more a line for hot and cold as there is for any pair of opposites. This
may be a strange thing, but try it for yourself. Take a particular vice
and locate its virtue. Now try to see if you can find a concrete
division between the two. When does the vice become a virtue? When does the virtue move into its vice? Finding
the changing point is much harder than realized. It is much akin to
trying draw a physical line on the ground for when you first clear the
fog. Near impossible.
Now ask
yourself what the “opposite” of Science is, and my bet is you will say
Religion. Most do. Why? Because it seems that Religion is the other pole
to a fundamental principle pendulum. These two are a particular
expression of the greater idea of Knowledge.
Let’s us apply the Law of Polarity to Religion and Science. Imagine yourself on a small 
silver
ball that is tied to a string and that string is swinging towards one
pole, then the other, and then back again. Continually moving in this
way. There is sort of an exhilaration to it, yes? Swinging back and
forth hearing the cacophony of arguments rushing in our ears. The
adrenaline of this rhythmic movement plays the background music of the
constant Science-Religion debate, enticing us to stay; however, it is
time we stand up to temptation.
silver
ball that is tied to a string and that string is swinging towards one
pole, then the other, and then back again. Continually moving in this
way. There is sort of an exhilaration to it, yes? Swinging back and
forth hearing the cacophony of arguments rushing in our ears. The
adrenaline of this rhythmic movement plays the background music of the
constant Science-Religion debate, enticing us to stay; however, it is
time we stand up to temptation.
There are
several problems that plague this never-ending battle between Science
and Religion. One of the problems (and there are many) is the great
misunderstanding of the purpose of Science. There are those on both
sides who claim that Science is in pursuit of Truth, but this is simply
not so. Unfortunately, the philosophy of science is not a common topic
at parties or dinner tables (or many science classrooms); so the masses
are mostly unaware of the purpose of Science. Don’t worry such
discussions didn’t exist at my dinner table either.
To be clear, Science is not
in the pursuit of Truth, and true Science, unadulterated Science. will
never be. The very foundational reasoning behind it precludes this
possibility. Rather, Science is in the pursuit of understanding.
It wants to understand how your genetic sequence works, the health
affects of that coffee you are drinking, and how to make the plastic you
use safer. Science is looking to improve its understanding with every
new discovery, and it is rightfully unapologetic in doing so. The late
Richard Feynman said Science can only tell you how a thing works, not why it works.
Truth
requires more than just knowing the how. It requires so much more. There
is a freedom to not being the custodian of Truth, and we should liberate our misconceptions
of Science as that custodian.
of Science as that custodian.
The debate
between Science and Religion will most likely never end. The pendulum
will always swing; we cannot get off this particular ride. Hate won’t do
it; apathy especially won’t. But that doesn’t mean we have to engage in
the incivility that cloaks ignorance occurring on both sides.
Let us do what The Kybalion
speaks to. Climb up. Climb the string so that we are swayed less by
misquoted “facts” and down right mud-slinging. The climb isn’t
difficult.
Pick up a
book, read more than one article and from different points of view, but
most of all ask questions and speak less. Science has ever been the
observer, the person in the field looking up at the night sky asking why
– not hollering the question at his neighbor. Human beings seek. We
have all our existence, and what better place to best see the landscape
than at the highest point of the pendulum? At the top of the string.
The Sun as a Symbol in Freemasonry: What is it trying to tell us?
“There is nothing so indestructible as a symbol, but nothing is capable of so many interpretations.” – Count Goblet d’Alviella
What does a
symbol have to do with you or me? Well, it’s possible that it doesn’t
have anything to do with us. On the other hand, the meaning behind a
symbol just might be pretty significant. To know what a symbol means (or
at least what we think they means) is one of the important speculative
studies in Freemasonry. The teachings of the craft are said to be
“illustrated by symbols.”
What are
symbols? The definition of a symbol is something that represents
something else through resemblance or association. As the well-known
saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words! There are everyday
symbols and then there are the more universal and esoteric symbols which
we are mainly concerned with as Freemasons.
Esoteric
symbols are those with a hidden meaning. They have been used throughout
time in the great spiritual traditions to guide seekers after truth.
Esoteric symbols both conceal and reveal the truth.
For example,
I consider myself to be a seeker of truth. The other day, I chanced
upon the following passage about the esoteric symbol of the sun. It set
me thinking on a number of different levels:
“The blazing star, or glory in the center, refers us to the sun, which enlightens the earth with its refulgent rays, dispensing its blessings to mankind at large and giving light and life to all things here below.” – Masonic Lectures
What
are we to make of this statement? Why would the blazing star, usually
depicted as a five-pointed star, be a symbol of a sun, too? And if it
is, what is different about this sun?
While the
answers to these questions remain a mystery, some of us may know that
the blazing star makes its appearance in several of the masonic degrees,
and the pieces to the puzzle reveal more of the secrets at each stage.
How, then, do you study a symbol? How do you know if what you are interpreting is truth?
A Symbol: Exoteric, Conceptual, and Esoteric
I have found
with symbols, it’s possible to go overboard with analysis. Especially
as Freemasons, we love to “speculate.” We open the whole thing for
scrutiny and dissect every little piece to see where it leads. We use
lots of words while trying to nail things down: “This means this” and
“that means that.”
Unfortunately,
in my opinion, when we over-analyze, especially early on, we may
unintentionally rob the symbol of its power. In the end, we may have
analyzed it to death.
The good news.
The
process of symbolic analysis, while wrought with paradox, is actually
doing something beneficial to the mind. The best summary of this idea I
found in a theosophical article of the Beacon Magazine (1939) written by Alice Bailey. The article details how the mind is actually being trained when we study symbolism.
Bailey gives three ways that a mind can analyze any symbol.
- Exoterically: This concerns the concrete or objective appearance, its form and structure.
- Conceptually: This concerns the concept or idea which the sign or symbol embodies.
- Esoterically: This concerns the energy or feeling that you register from the symbol.
Studying a
symbol in three ways, she says, is activating the mental mechanism on
all three levels: concrete mind (exoteric), higher mind or reasoning
(conceptual) and the intuitional mind (esoteric). The goal is to arrive
at a synthetic concept.
Why does the
process matter? Bailey says that practical work with symbols over time
serves to bring a student closer to truth. It lifts an individual out
of their emotions; it develops clarity of perception; it energizes the
mental life; it shifts the focus and attention and consciousness out of
the world of illusion into the world of ideas. How then could
Freemasons apply this technique?
Let’s take an example.
Freemasonry: The Point within a Circle
The sun is often symbolized by a symbol called the circumpunct. For those of you who’ve read the novel by Dan Brown called The Lost Symbol, you probably are familiar with what a circumpunct is. For those who aren’t familiar, it’s simply a point within a circle.
There are
hundreds of things the circumpunct can represent, anywhere from the “Eye
of God” to the “Google Chrome” icon that I use to launch my search
engine. Using the Bailey technique, the circumpunct could be studied
and reflected upon by an inquiring student and hopefully, after a little
while, reveal a synthetic understanding of what it means.
Freemasons for centuries have taken a stab at analyzing the circumpunct.
W.L. Wilmshurst, for example, says this:
“As the sun is the centre and life-giver of our solar system and controls and feeds with life the planets circling round it, so at the secret centre of individual human life exists a vital, immortal principle, the spirit and the spiritual will of man. This is the faculty, by using which (when we have found it) we can never err.”
In other
words, Wilmshurst (and many other masonic scholars) see the point within
a circle to be where we, as Freemasons, stand. It is the point from
which we cannot err. The point is timeless, eternal, subjective,
immeasurable, invisible, absolute. For these reasons, it is often
attributed to Deity and the Sun.
As
Freemasons, the study of symbols helps us to make sense of ourselves in
relation to the universe. Planetary symbols such as the sun, moon,
stars, and blazing stars inspire the contemplative mind to soar aloft and read the wisdom, strength and beauty of the Great Creator in the heavens. They challenge us to dig deeper on matters of eternal significance.
Sun or
blazing star? I’ve learned there seems to be a certain humility in
recognizing that we may never fully understand a symbol in a complete
way, one that allows us to cross it off the list and totally explain its
meaning.
How do you know if what you interpret in symbols is true? Perhaps the better question might be:
Where is it true?
If I may,
“Truth is within ourselves. It takes no rise
From outward things, whate’er you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in ourselves,
Where truth abides in fullness…
– Robert Browning
Note: The last image is an engraving by Alexander Slade dated 1754, titled “A Free Mason Form’d Out of the Material of his Lodge.” For further study, see the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library.
The Socratic Method: Does It Lead A Mason From Darkness To Light?
“I can’t teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”
So says
Socrates, a great thinker of his time in Ancient Greece. He was known
for educating his disciples by asking questions and thereby drawing out
answers from them, called the Socratic method. The goal was to nudge
people to examine their own beliefs, instead of unthinkingly inheriting
opinions from others. The approach was a way for his students to find
the truth of anything. Thinkers have venerated the method ever since. It
really worked for the Greeks.
I have
always had a fascination with Greek culture. I particularly enjoy
studying Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. I also admit to getting lost in
Greek mythology at times, enjoying Greek food, and have always secretly
wished that I could dance like a Greek goddess.
Given the
above, it seems only reasonable I should find myself honing in on
Socrates. Mind you, I am no authority on the great ones of the ancient
past, other than being humbled by their wisdom and insight. Socrates is
for me the most interesting of the three: a perspective I am sure many
might agree and equally as many might disagree.
There are two statements that Socrates made that I found particularly thought-provoking.
“To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”
“Let him that would move the world first move himself.”
The first quote that starts, “To know, is to know that you know nothing”
is a paradox right off the bat. Yet, instinctively, somehow, I
understand the entire point and it makes sense even while being a total
paradox! And the second quote struck me as so linked and interrelated to
the first one. One would be hard pressed to assert one carries more
weight than the other or to even think about them separately.
weight than the other or to even think about them separately.
How can we
know what we don’t know? Does the Socratic method offer us a technique
to advance towards the light of true knowledge?
Plato’s Dialogue: It’s About the Questioning
Socrates said: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
In other words, question everything. I recently read the statistic that
children through the ages 2-5 ask roughly 40,000 questions. I have
wondered why, as we go through into adulthood, the number of questions
we ask drops significantly.
We know
through the writings of Plato, the student of Socrates, that he was
often quizzed by his teacher about deeper realities. 
In “Plato’s Dialogues,”
we can read short works in which Plato recreates various conversations
Socrates had with another student. And thus, we get a really good idea
of the Socratic method.
In “Plato’s Dialogues,”
we can read short works in which Plato recreates various conversations
Socrates had with another student. And thus, we get a really good idea
of the Socratic method.
The style of a Platonic dialogue may go something like this:
Q: “What color is the rose in the garden?”
A: “The rose in the garden is red.”
Q:”Is this rose still red to a blind person?”
A: No.
Q: “So you are saying the rose is red only to those who can see.”
A: Yes.
Q: “What color would it be to a blind person? Would it be pink or white or some other color?”
A: (No answer – student is bewildered).
Q: “So the rose is red only to those who can see.”
A: Yes.
Q: “If the rose in the garden is where no one can see it, is it still red?”
A: (No answer – further bewilderment).
And so on.
The questioner might end up forcing a realization in the student of how
color only exists in a person’s mind as a result of their perception; it
isn’t actually a property of the rose. In other words, the rose is not
red.
Socrates
believed there were two ways to come to knowledge: through discovery and
by being taught. To be taught presupposes that someone else has
discovered the truth for you. He thought for his disciples to really know a subject, they should form their own beliefs and experience their own blind alleys and realizations.
How does this idea of discovery relate to the path of a Freemason?
From Darkness to Light
Every
Freemason is on a quest to discover his “true self.” He is taught the
importance of the Liberal Arts and Sciences, of which logic is one of
them. The study of critical thinking and reasoning allows the Freemason
to look beyond mere perception and dogma in the search for truth. In
this way, it is possible to forge a path to moral, scientific, and
philosophical enlightenment. “To know nothing” is leaning into
the next moment, wondering what you are going to find. It is a form of
being blindfolded or hoodwinked, waiting for more light.
It was in
Freemasonry that I really learned to embrace the journey from darkness
to light, to become a friend of the Socratic method, and learn to be
humble in what I don’t know. When I first joined, a poor blind
candidate, I was asked probing questions about the First Degree.
Questions like, “What does it mean to know thyself?” and “Is truth
absolute or relative?” I was asked to explore the relationships among
concepts and ideas. For example, I had to compare two types of symbols
and to explain how they are similar, how they are different, or evaluate
the meanings of each.
Over the
many masonic degrees, my mentors have pointed me in the direction of
truth only to glorify the beauty of the group vision and the image of
enlightenment.
The Freemason W.L. Wilmshurst said:
“Truth, whether as expressed in Masonry or otherwise, is at all times an open secret, but is as a pillar of light to those able to receive and profit by it, and to all others but one of darkness and unintelligibility.”
I think he is saying that truth is a mysterious something that is sensed, even though the 
rational
mind may try to discredit it. The ability to sense this invitation to
truth, even when the path is dark and hidden, is perhaps the most
important lesson to consider here. “The future I do not see. One step enough for me.”
rational
mind may try to discredit it. The ability to sense this invitation to
truth, even when the path is dark and hidden, is perhaps the most
important lesson to consider here. “The future I do not see. One step enough for me.”
My takeaway from the Socratic method is this: Remember how little you know, question everything, and keep your mind open to other possibilities. If all goes well, truth is our travel companion from darkness to light. What do you ask for?
Service: Who Do We Expect To Change The World?
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” ~ Albert Einstein
How many of
us have marveled at the courage and self-sacrifice made by a soldier
saving comrades in battle or a rescue worker who has saved families from
the peril of fire, flood and earthquakes. These brave souls run in to
danger when all others run away from it. What is that special code of
service that these rescuers live by?
I realize
that firefighters, police and soldiers receive special training to face
these perils, but there must also be a strong inner calling to serve
humanity within these devoted
men and women, or they would have chosen other occupations. We have also heard stories of heroic behavior by ordinary citizens during catastrophes.
men and women, or they would have chosen other occupations. We have also heard stories of heroic behavior by ordinary citizens during catastrophes.
I recall
after the earthquake in California on October 17, 1989 how the community
I lived in became so cooperative and courteous with one another,
looking out for each other’s welfare. “Life as usual” ended and many
citizens were shocked out of their normal complacency. Instead, they
moved to help others in greater danger, without thought of self.
Although life does not ask most of us to save lives from physical peril, we are all given opportunities every day
to make a difference in the world. I constantly hear complaints about
how the world is going in the wrong direction, politics is corrupt, food
is poisoned, climate 
change is the fault of humanity, immigrants are being treated unfairly, etc.
change is the fault of humanity, immigrants are being treated unfairly, etc.
Who is it that we expect will change the world?
We may not be able to change political corruption in an instant, but with patience and grooming future leaders, we could individually support new leaders who value the ideals that we hold dear. We could even groom ourselves as leaders for governmental office!
We may not
be able to fight against the greed of corporations on our own, but we
can support local organic farmers or grow our own gardens. We may not be
able to combat all of climate change, but we can reduce our own carbon
footprint and encourage others in our community to do the same.
Being an example to
others seems to be the best way to teach. We can be a light of
inspiration for those needing motivation and the light of tolerance for
those feeling judged; we can offer
our
arms to hold another when they need comfort and solace; we can donate
money, clothing, food, or employment to those in distress.
our
arms to hold another when they need comfort and solace; we can donate
money, clothing, food, or employment to those in distress.
We can provide encouragement – to our brother who has fallen – that today is a new day. He or she can do better and even greater things starting right now; for whatever we sow today, we will reap tomorrow.
We may not be able to save the entire world. We can, however, start noticing what demands our attention during the day, and act when that still, small voice within says:
“It is your service that is urgently needed at this moment.”
Freemasonry: Is Architecture Frozen Music?
At the
end of a recent Scottish Rite workshop, and after one of the most
incredible weeks of my life, I felt inspired and nourished with the
treasures that only the craft of Freemasonry can offer. I jumped in the
car and set off on my long drive home. My thoughts were tuned to
philosophy, art, and music. I contemplated how a beautiful masonic
temple is a work of art, a finely tuned instrument, a Stradivarius
if you like. I had just been a part of something special; freemasonry,
philosophy and art teaming up together in my world for the love of
beauty.
So far so good.
But then the quote, supposedly of Goethe, crossed my mind, “Architecture is frozen music.”
Now, I like
Goethe very much. He was certainly a profound thinker, contrasting the
way architecture and music impact our minds. He gives you a sense of
what is greater than ourselves, what transcends our lives. I appreciate
the philosophical perspective. But, at the time I was thinking with my
snobbish musical mind that he got this one terribly wrong.
What about the reverse? If architecture is frozen music, does that mean music is liquid architecture?
You
certainly wouldn’t say that musical notes written on a piece of paper
is a complete definition of music. Of course not! A written melody is
perhaps one of the necessary components for a musical experience. But we
also need a musician who can read the notes and have the skill to
perform on an instrument. We need an occasion for this music to be
played. Don’t forget we need those listeners who can undergo the musical
experience. All these factors come together in a synergistic manner to
make up what we might call music.
Are you telling me that music is liquid architecture?
I don’t buy
it. Music is a complicated affair needing a host of ingredients working
merrily together to transport us into a state of musical rapture. Is
Goethe telling me that architecture requires all this movement to be
frozen still? How could Goethe be so wrong?
What Goethe really said
Well, as it
turns out Goethe’s analogy between architecture and music actually
extends much further. A little bit of research revealed to me that the
popular cliché has become distorted over time. “Frozen music” might
even be the most misleading definition of architecture around.
Goethe definitely said this in Conversations with Eckermann:
“I have found a paper of mine among some others, in which I call architecture ‘petrified music.’ Really there is something in this; the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music.”
What I think
is the most important part of this statement is that Goethe was
suggesting that architecture produces the same “tone” or effect in your
mind as music. The point he is making is about the mind.
Let me
expand on my interpretation of his philosophy. If this is an act of
arrogance then I apologize, but for all my love of Goethe, my loyalty is
to truth and art.
Goethe’s
idea suggests something about the creative process of the mind and the
human need to express something. What would a building sound like if
the architect had been a composer? He would be using vibrations as the
medium of expression instead of lines and shapes. It could be said that
the musician “composes” using vibrations, the scientist “invents” with
formulas, the painter “paints” with color and design, and so on. A
thought-form is created. There is a universal theme of mental expression
underscoring all creative disciplines.
It is the
special skill of the creative worker and the space in which they create
that causes a living architecture. These factors make the air molecules
vibrate in such a way that this soup of pulsating molecules works upon
our minds, even after the creative worker has completed his
architecture. We might call it a thought-form, a musical idea, that
continues to exist.
Freemasonry: The Creative Workshop
Freemasons
are always looking for connections between music, architecture,
geometry, proportion, and how such tools can be used to transform
society. Music doesn’t use windows or columns and architecture doesn’t
use melodies or notes. For most of us such obvious differences would
seem to eliminate any possible similarity between them. But wait! If we
use the idea that any artistic expression is a creative process of mind
then we get a very different picture.
St. Thomas Aquinas has said:
“Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound.”
How
can a Freemason achieve that exaltation of the mind? I have a couple
thoughts on this. First, there is an acceptance of the possibility of a
more evolved world, and second there is an experience of a change in our
state of being as we become aware of that better world.
Temples and
buildings of great architecture are designed to build a bridge between
this world and that. There is something musical that pulsates and glows
inside them, inside the architecture, some dancing molecules that
converge as a product of all the thoughtful labor that has been
conducted until that point in time.
I should
point out that in a masonic temple there are no blurred boundaries
between participant and observer. Everyone has an active role in
building the edifice.
Architecture.
Music. And the relationship between them is….? I’m not sure, but the
obvious thing that springs into my mind is that the experience of a
beautiful building might in some ways equate with the experience of a
beautiful piece of music. The architecture inside the Lodge inspires the
Freemason outside the lodge to become a better Master Craftsman in the
mighty workshop of the Lord.
“Each Mason must be a builder; he is a workman under the direction of a Great Architect, who is planning a marvelous edifice, which is the Grand Lodge above, the perfect universe. To the building of this perfect edifice, each Mason must bring his stone, his perfect ashlar, perfect because it has been tested and proved true by the plumb, by the level and by the square.”~ Brother C. Jinarajadasa, Ideals of Freemasonry
Censing in Freemasonry: Practical or Symbolic?
The
act of censing has been said to create a pleasing and purified ritual
space. There is nothing quite as inspiring as walking in to a sacred
place and being hit by the smell of lovely incense, which immediately
transports us into a more reverent state of mind. What are the reasons
censing is important, or is it?
The Rite of Censing
came before, most, if not all, the current concepts of religion. It is
said to have originated from a distant past when men worshiped the sun
and other fiery forces of nature. Most researchers agree that there is a
connecting link between the use of incense in the ancient mysteries of
the past, and the speculative Freemasonry of the present day, for those
lodges who use incense. From what I have read, this connection can be
fairly well traced by archaeologists. However, there is less agreement
on why it is important.
Is censing and the use of incense in ritual more practical or symbolic today?
I recently read an interesting book called “A history of the use of incense in divine worship”
(1909) by Cuthbert Atchley. It contains a rather unique and objective
history of censing within ritual, both pre-Christian and Christian. I
especially enjoyed the section explaining various Egyptian ceremonials.
However, I was somewhat disappointed when I finally arrived at the end
of the book to hear researcher Atchley’s conclusions:
“The ultimate basis of all use of incense in the Church is its pleasant odour; that is, it is fumigatory. The more superficial reasons are what are called ceremonial.”
In other
words, he is saying that the main use of censing and incense is for
“deodorant” purposes, to mask awful smells and the stink of decaying
bodies, and so on. He says that any connection to ceremonial purposes is
“superficial.” While I might be somewhat forgiving because the book was
written over a century ago, the thinking underlying still seems flawed,
in my mind at least.
If something
did have a practical origin at some point in time, does that mean that
any symbolic value is of no account? Following from that, should it be
done away with
accordingly?
It seems to me that this fails to think deeply enough about the nature
and function of ritual and ceremony – no matter what century we are
talking about.
accordingly?
It seems to me that this fails to think deeply enough about the nature
and function of ritual and ceremony – no matter what century we are
talking about.
Practical Origins
It is true
that many of the early uses of incense were practical and operative. For
example, the fragrance obscured odors, and was aesthetically pleasing.
There existed a mystical healing art hidden surrounding the use of
certain incenses. Ancient Egyptians (3000 BC) practiced medicine with
aromatic plants and even went so far as to establish astrological
relationships for them. There are many pictures that can be seen where a
Pharaoh is depicted with a censer casting the incense. Each
civilization, throughout the ages have all added their own contribution
to this handed down practical knowledge.
Over time,
the burning of incense formed a link to spirituality in a speculative
sense when it was offered to the gods alongside sacrifices and prayer.
Incense is mentioned frequently in the Hebrew Scriptures.
The psalmist expresses the symbolism of incense and prayer:
“Let my prayer rise like incense before you; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” (Psalm 141:1)
What the
ancients knew intuitively, science has verified today. Of all of the
five senses, the sense of smell is most strongly connected to the areas
of the brain that process memory. Even the smallest hint of a fragrance
that you had previously associated with a certain place can bring you
back to there in moments. Incense, then, is a way to tap the mind
quickly and with a great deal of exactitude. Certain combinations of
aromas can quickly adjust not only the atmosphere of the room but the
atmosphere of the emotions 
and mind. Knowing all this, how, then, is censing significant in Freemasonry?
and mind. Knowing all this, how, then, is censing significant in Freemasonry?
A Symbolic Perspective from C.W. Leadbeater
Freemason Charles W. Leadbeater placed a great deal of importance on the ceremonial value of censing in his book “The Hidden Life in Freemasonry.”
He said that the entire process of censing in a Masonic Lodge is meant
to prepare and purify. It provides an atmosphere of solemnity and due
introspection. He explains that the ceremony of censing, being a
vortical movement, is connected with the way in which the Great
Architect has constructed the universe.
Leadbeater writes:
“In the movements made and in the plan of the Lodge were enshrined some of the great principles on which that universe had been built.”
He thought the censing ritual to be significant giving four main reasons:
- Raises the vibration of the lodge.
- Unifies the lodge members in thought.
- Bridges the inner worlds with the outer.
- Lifts and aids the candidate.
Leadbeater’s
premise is that the basis of any ritual is intent. The intentional
thoughts of the members set the purpose and vision for the ritual. The
lodge work concerns lifting and raising humanity from the human to the
spiritual kingdom. The Craft performed is therefore applied to the
mastery of the forces of one’s own nature, whereby “that which is below”
may become truly and accurately aligned with “that which is above.”
He says:
“The time has come when men are beginning to see that life is full of invisible influences, whose value can be recognized by sensitive people. The effect of incense is an instance of this class of phenomena… each of which vibrates at its own rate and has its own value.”
Any of us
who has experienced censing may have a different opinion of what it
means. Practical or symbolic? Perhaps both? For myself, censing kindles
a wonderment at the eternal mystery of an all-knowing Deity, whom we
have not seen and cannot yet see clearly. Our human vision is not suited
to that. The smoke obscures the air briefly. It is salutary for us to
be reminded every now and again that our concept of the Most High is
always incomplete, inadequate; that he is other, transcendent, and holy.
The Masonic Pursuit of Freedom
What makes a Freemason free?
I started brooding over this question one day when wondering which word
is better to use, “Freemason” or “mason.” Is one term more correct?
Historically, the distinction is said to be a carry-over from the
medieval period of the stone masons. In a grammatical sense, both terms
are used interchangeably today. Like any word, I guess you can speculate
more about their deeper meanings, if you are so inspired.
Anyway, as sometimes happens, a smaller question led to bigger ones.
What is freedom? How is it important to a Freemason?
The concept
of freedom is difficult to understand because it can work in mysterious
ways from within out; it is not imposed from the outside. Rosa Parks was
not protesting so that she could be free, nor was Mahatma Gandhi in
prison waiting for someone to anoint him with an elixir of freedom. In
their hearts and minds. they were already free!
Freedom
means many things to different people. Some philosophers call freedom a
principle, a law, or a right. It can be defined from various
perspectives like economic, social, political or religious. Freedom has
also been said to be a state of mind or even a state of being when a
person is liberated from the “tomb of matter.” There are a select few
who don’t believe it exists at all.
Regardless
of how we define it, most would agree that freedom is part of our
approach to life. The very ideas such as freedom of thought, freedom of
speech, freedom of worship, and freedom of choice all have become the
very water and air of our societies. These freedoms are highly prized.
The American Declaration of Independence tells us:
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Is, then, the instinctual striving toward freedom and the pursuit of happiness inherent in all human beings?
The Pursuit of Happiness by Aristotle
The great
philosophers in earlier centuries had a huge impact about how we think
about these types of questions today. More than anyone else, Aristotle
enshrined happiness as a central purpose of human life and a goal in
itself. I read Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics years ago before
becoming a Freemason and adopted it as much of my own personal
philosophy. In the lectures he presents a theory of happiness that has
carried through all my years as a mason which says a lot.
Aristotle
sought to answer the most fundamental questions you can ask yourself.
What is the highest good of human existence? What is the highest good
achievable by action?
Aristotle
suggests that human existence is an activity of soul in accordance with
virtue. To understand the nature of happiness or “eudaimonia,” as he
called it, we must investigate the nature of virtue.
As Aristotle puts it:
“If happiness is in accordance with virtue, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest virtue; and this will be that of the best thing in us.”
Now, I
thought the conclusion that Aristotle comes to after his lecture on
virtue is very interesting. He says that none of the moral virtues are
inherent in human nature. For example, the moral virtues, such as
fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence, can only be attained
through practice and habitual action. Essentially, his line of thinking
is that happiness comes from virtue, and then virtue comes from freedom
of choice. He says that “to entrust to chance what is greatest and most noble would be a very defective arrangement.”
Choices,
as he defines them, are the things that can be brought about by one’s
own efforts. Responsible choices are the ones that provide the greatest
good for the greatest number. The freedom of choice is an essential
component in the formula to happiness and consequently to becoming more
“free.”
Which aspects, then, of freedom are most immediately identifiable to a freemason?
The “Free” Mason
In the
writings of Manly P. Hall, we find many ideas that are in sync with
Aristotle. When a mason passes through the door of the Temple and takes
his seat, he has made a choice to let his entire nature be subjected to a
drastic discipline of ethical training. By development of virtues, he
advances in the Craft.
Manly Hall writes in The Candidate:
“There comes a time in the growth of every living individual thing when it realizes with dawning consciousness that it is a prisoner. It is at this point that man cries out with greater insistence to be liberated from the binding ties which, though invisible to mortal eyes, still chain him with bonds far more terrible than those of any physical prison.”
One can only speculate what Hall meant by the binding ties that chain him.
What is the
candidate being liberated from? Perhaps it could be said that the
candidate is a slave to his dogmas and ideologies. He may be further
tainted by the dynamics of power and profit. When a person is liberated
from the prisons of ignorance and vice, then the attainment of greater
freedom is automatic. There’s a greater purpose to life than the
egotistic individual who is running the show.
Hall writes again:
“The eternal prisoner awaits the day when, standing upon the rocks that now form His shapeless tomb, He may raise His arms to heaven, bathed in the sunlight of spiritual freedom, free to join the sparkling atoms and dancing light-beings released from the bonds of prison wall and tomb.”
As Hall expresses, to be released from the bonds of prison wall is not a simple task. As Aristotle emphasized, it is easier to miss the mark than to hit it. For this reason, “right conduct is rare and praiseworthy and noble.”
Freedom comes from examining everything in the light of whether it
comes from an inner truth, or from a reaction to outer things.
In the end, why is it so hard to align with that inner truth? I say that maybe it’s much harder to hold out against it.
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” ~ George Washington
As Above, So Below: What Does it Mean to a Freemason?
From
the teachings of Hermes comes the well-known maxim, “as above, so
below.” Those four words have become a sacred phrase, an adage of
wisdom, an underlying principle, an ancient aphorism, and a mystic
saying. The dramatic opening lines of the Emerald Tablet read as follows:
“Tis true without lying, certain and most true. That which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.” – The Emerald Tablet (Isaac Newton Translation)
Over the
centuries almost every organization and religion has loosely put their
own spin on the formula. Many philosophical schools believe “as above,
so below” is the same thing as the Principle of Correspondence. In other
words, everything above (spiritual) corresponds to something material
(below). Nothing exists in isolation. Matter contains spirit, and vice
versa.
More often
today, I think the phrase is carelessly bandied about. For some
thinkers, the spiritual dimensions are dismissed as unverifiable or
inadequate to explain how and what life is. Some say modern man’s
understanding of the entire Hermetic chain has been flattened over time.
I hope not.
Of interest to me, however, is how deeply and how widely that maxim is embedded into the teachings of freemasonry.
How is the Hermetic principle applied to a Freemason? Or is it?
I may be
mistaken, but “as above, so below” is not a masonic phrase, per say. If
used in any way shape or form, it did not have its origins as words in
ritual. I can only remember the phrase mentioned one time in conjunction
with a lecture on astronomy. Even so, Freemasonry has some roots in the
Hermetic tradition of Western occultism and so the philosophy is
heavily embedded in the teachings. And it is here we begin the
introspection and speculative discussion of the phrase itself.
The Masonic Ladder according to W.L. Wilmshurst
It is clear that a serious study of words and symbols can bring anyone quite far afield
into the poetic lens of metaphor. Sometimes, before venturing into my
own fantasy land, I like to read what the masonic scholars say.
into the poetic lens of metaphor. Sometimes, before venturing into my
own fantasy land, I like to read what the masonic scholars say.
There is one symbol in particular that W.L. Wilmshurst writes about in his book Masonic Initiations that struck me as a good example of the maxim “as above, so below.”
That symbol
is Jacob’s Ladder. It is also called the Masonic Ladder and is said to
reveal a connection between heaven and earth with God at the top of the
ladder. Angels are seen ascending and descending. Some say the ladder shows a hierarchical ordering of the Universe, a great chain of being, a principle of correspondence.
Wilmshurst tells us:
“Indeed Life, and the ladder it climbs, are one and indissociable. The summit of both reaches to and disappears out of ken into the heavens; the base of both rests upon the earth; but these two terminals – that of spirit and that of matter – are but opposite poles of a single reality.”
If you think
you can spot Plato in this, you are quite correct. Plato offered
theories of knowledge that were also illustrated by ladders. Those who
climb the ladder advance from one step to the next and build on the
knowledge gained from the one below.
Now, there
is something that Wilmshurst writes later on that I found interesting.
He believes that this cosmological truth, the Principle of
Correspondence, is one that Masons should all know. Yet, he claims that
most Freemasons have “hazy notions on the subject.” And I quote: “The
modern mason is not interested or treats the information as not
credible.”
This line of thought left me with a question. Where does the modern Mason learn about cosmology?
The Great Chain of Being – Veiled in Allegory
Of course, there are always books and study papers to read to gain knowledge. But I am wondering if the true cosmological truths that Wilmshurst speaks of are kept alive in 
the
masonic rituals and allegories. Each masonic ceremony speaks to the
unconscious mind, slipping past the usual dogma and conscious defense
mechanisms.
the
masonic rituals and allegories. Each masonic ceremony speaks to the
unconscious mind, slipping past the usual dogma and conscious defense
mechanisms.
If I can use a masonic metaphor for a moment; in the Mind of The Great Architect it
has been written that there is a ritual taking place all the time. It
is a divine drama with the building theme of making perfection out of
imperfection. When, therefore, here upon earth, a ritual is enacted,
symbolizing that eternal process, then some of the spiritual realms
above are brought down to earth. It is this mysterious unity of thought,
synchronizing above to below which gives Freemasonry its magic and
eternal purpose.
In the book Spirit of Masonry, Foster Bailey writes:
“A symbol is an outer, visible, and tangible sign of an inner spiritual reality. If this is admitted, then behind all the outer forms of the Masonic work, latent in its rituals, and hidden behind the entire system of symbols, is some spiritual value and some definite and intended teaching which can be discovered by those whose vision can be awakened.”
Perhaps the “biggie” truth is this. The “inner spiritual reality” that Bailey writes about is
an
inner state of being. For Freemasons, each of us is a builder, working
with the hierarchical order of things, according to his ability. Each
must not only contribute his work, he must also grow to be capable of
greater work.
an
inner state of being. For Freemasons, each of us is a builder, working
with the hierarchical order of things, according to his ability. Each
must not only contribute his work, he must also grow to be capable of
greater work.
I believe
that when the two realms of spirit and matter unite, the Lodge on High
sends its spiritualizing forces of life to the humble lodge below. Yet,
the idea is greater than just what can be experienced in a ceremony. I
think Freemasonry is an exposition of Life itself – the creative life we
all have to live.
Certain and most true.
“Ascend with the greatest sagacity from earth to heaven and unite together the power of things inferior and superior; thus, you will possess the light of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly away from you. This thing has more fortitude than fortitude itself because it will overcome every subtle thing and penetrate every solid thing. By it the world was formed.” – (H.P. Blavatsky Translation)
The Power of the Spoken Word in Freemasonry
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” — Lao Tzu
According to
Tzu, the very essence of what it means to become a consciously creative
person begins with examining the content of thoughts and words. How does speech have the power to shape our inner and outer universe? How is the spoken word significant to a Freemason?
In the
ancient mystery schools, speech and sound were considered divine energy
in motion and a type of vibration that could be harnessed in creative
work. The entire Universe was understood to be under the control of men
and gods who knew the power of sacred speech and how to harmonize the
ideal and the material worlds in accordance with the divine plan.
Somewhere along the way the teaching about the magical force of words has been lost. And yes, we have been lost ever since.
It was felt
in those earlier times that it was the initiates’ duty to restore the
lost language. Just as Masons are in search of the “Lost Word” and have
found it not, initiates also used a substitute language, until this
inner Word could be reestablished. It may well be said that the
knowledge of words, of speech and of sound is perhaps the most carefully
guarded secrets of all the ancient mysteries.
Do words have a far greater implication than normally conceived?
A Perspective from Albert Pike
In Albert Pike’s, Morals and Dogma, he has volumes to say on this subject. There is no
doubt the book is dense with wisdom; so much so, I find myself studying
a paragraph for hours on end to fully grasp it. It’s almost as if you
have to look at Pike’s writings as if the ancients looked upon cryptic
messages.
doubt the book is dense with wisdom; so much so, I find myself studying
a paragraph for hours on end to fully grasp it. It’s almost as if you
have to look at Pike’s writings as if the ancients looked upon cryptic
messages.
Recently, I read a chapter where Bro. Pike was examining the following passage from scripture:
“In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” — John 1:1-3 (KJV)
I realized
how casually I had looked at this well-known Bible verse before and how
much more could be revealed. Looking beyond the religious overtones,
there is a great mystery of “the WORD” (all caps) that Pike explains.
It’s something out of a deep esoteric playbook. “The WORD” did not cease
at the single act of Creation but set in motion the absolute potential
for man to become a divine creator in his own life circumstances. Could
this passage be a formula for creative work?
Pike says:
“The WORD conducts and controls the Universe, all spheres, all worlds, all actions of mankind, and of every animate and inanimate creature.”
In short,
the goal of “the WORD” is to “become flesh and dwell among men.” God and
“the WORD” are one and the same. They are WITH each other. All good
stuff.
Now, I
realized that the theological distinction between “the WORD” and “a
word” had always escaped me. The words we speak are not “the WORD.” But
it is possible that EVERY word spoken has the potential to align with
“the WORD.” Speech carries intention, force and information. We long for
words like Love, Truth, Beauty, Strength and Justice to become flesh and dwell among us. Words and speech are the initiating forces behind all things. What can a Freemason learn from this idea? How are words and action related?
A Freemason Suits Action to Word
In Masonic circles, we hear the phrase “suiting action to word” which can mean that a 
person
will do what he claims and deliver on his promises and obligations.
Masons are charged to make a conscious effort to integrate masonic
philosophies into daily behavior, appearance, and words to others.
person
will do what he claims and deliver on his promises and obligations.
Masons are charged to make a conscious effort to integrate masonic
philosophies into daily behavior, appearance, and words to others.
In the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path,
“Right Speech” appears in third place preceded only by “Right Belief”
and “Right Intentions,” and immediately followed by “Right Actions.”
Thus, the way we speak is of vital importance, not just for moral
reasons, but also because communication is one of the most powerful
means whereby we can intelligently change the world around us.
Spoken words
are especially significant to anyone who has undergone a ceremony
blindfolded. For me, it was only through intense listening to the words
of the masonic officers that I knew what was happening. Even decades
after some degree work, entire lines from the ritual are still
memorable. I remember vividly the sacredness of words that have been
laid upon my heart.
Right speech, when properly executed, is one of the most powerful and mysterious activities.
An example
of what it can mean to “suit action to word” can be seen in the life of
the immortal Goethe: poet and Freemason. He changed inquiring minds
around him by breathing enlightened ideas into many of his writings.
With his last breath, Bro. Goethe cried the immortal phrase:
“Light, more Light!”
These words
for a Freemason are powerful! Worthy of opening and inspiring a life as
well as closing it in death. There is no doubt to me that beyond the
confines of his dark room his invocation was answered and there showered
upon him a brilliance of light such as no mortal could see. Some
accounts of Goethe’s last moments say that when he spoke his last words a
ray of light shot through the shutters of the window.
“Light!”
Goethe’s spoken word of power and His service to mankind. In the end,
light was all he craved, symbolically, the highest of blessings. Not
money or fame, but a glimpse of the
treasures of eternity.
treasures of eternity.
Maybe the
real secret of right speech is to truly recognize and respect the
authority that words carry. As we have seen with the writings of Pike,
there is more to language than meets the eye, or ear. To delve into its
mysteries just might reveal some extraordinary truths about the world we
live in.
“Here Masonry pauses and leaves its initiates to carry out and develop these great Truths in such manner as to each may seem most accordant with reason, philosophy, truth, and his religious faith.” — Albert Pike
The Secret Life of the Masonic Beehive
“Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about.” ~ (Secret Life of Bees)
We don’t
have to look far from this quote to find an analogy in Freemasonry. The
beehive has been said to be a metaphor for the working lodge with seven
bees flying around the hive, making a perfect lodge. Bees are thought
to be exceptionally auspicious throughout the world. They have played an
important part in symbolism since ancient times. Turns out, a valuable
teacher in mother nature has been with us all along.
Is there anything that can be learned from our buzzing friends? What do they symbolize in Freemasonry?
In ages
past, people believed that bees were prophetic – that their actions were
messages not to be ignored. Bees were regarded by some as an example of
a divine intellect woven through nature. In medieval times, one could
find many farms that kept beehives and collected honey. In a wonderful
text called the Geoponika, the beekeepers would praise the creatures, even read to them.
One of the chapters says:
The bee is the wisest and cleverest of all animals and the closest to man in intelligence; its works is truly divine and of the greatest use to mankind.
I loved
reading this. The writing portrayed a scene that I imagine has been
played in countless bee farms, between untold numbers of masters and
their hives. The work of the beekeeper seems so magical and yet so
commonplace. It was all about the watching, the learning, the reverence,
and the abiding trust. The desire of looking to nature as teacher seems
to me to be one of the elements that is missing from our culture.
Could it be the bees are trying to tell us something, but we’re just not listening?
It is said
that Albert Einstein once calculated that if all bees disappeared off
the earth, four years later all humans would also have disappeared.
Pretty chilling to think about.
Why? Because there exists a global phenomenon today of bees disappearing. Many
say that the mystery of the bees disappearing is a warning to all of
us. If something is wrong in beehives it means something is wrong
everywhere.
Andrew Gough, an expert bee researcher says:
I’ve labelled the three eras of the Bee; Beedazzled, Beewildered and Beegotten for good reason. The question remains, will there be a fourth era, and if so will it be called Beegone?
Sadly, Gough
states that modern humanity has become notorious spoilers of nature’s
divine harmony. The concept of nature being something “out there” is
largely what is amiss with our view of it. Likewise, the bees also seem
to be disappearing from masonic workings and in many places today is
considered a lost symbol.
Is a lost symbol in Freemasonry something to be concerned about?
Masonic Speculative Meanings
The early
Freemasons incorporated bee symbolism heavily into its philosophy and
regalia. It was especially pervasive in masonic drawings and documents
of the 18th and 19th centuries. At the heart of its message even today
are the concepts of industry and stability, harmony and cooperation,
virtues that the craft values highly. The masonic symbol of the bee
does not stand alone. It also includes the beehive and the honey.
The following is taken from the monitor of the lodge.
As Masons, we must imitate the bee, be industrious, work with others and for others, take pride in our vocations, obey the rules of our society, and strive to add to our body of knowledge and understanding. Otherwise we are useless members of society.
Other
monitors and masonic books give the same type of explanation. Some
longer and some shorter but all what I consider somewhat along the lines
of virtue and morality.
I believe we
are now in an era where it is vital that we take a deeper look at the
secrets of the bee symbol. What might those be?
History, Culture and Myth
In the myths
and histories of ancient times is where I found some possible avenues
for further inquiry. Looking back to various mythologies, bees revealed
elements of the mysteries of initiation. In Egyptian mythology, bees
were considered tears of the sun-god RA. The sun has been thought by
some to be a very mysterious concept in freemasonry related to the
initiatory process. For example, the sun’s daily “rising” in the East
is the image of rebirth and new beginnings, just as its setting in the
West is the image of decay and death leading to transformation. 
One of the most interesting mythologies is the Egyptian Goddess of Neith who lived in the House of Bees.
Neith was primarily an Egyptian goddess of wisdom, often given the
title “Opener of the Ways.” Neith would say to the initiate, “Come look
beneath my veil.” Her call was both a summons and a challenge. By the
blessing of the goddess, the veil would be lifted. Only then would the
initiate perceive the secret workings and patterns of nature. At that
moment, when the veil is rent asunder, he can consciously participate in
those mysteries, thus becoming a human administrator of the will of the
God.
In fact, the
initiate at this point fully sees his own inner divinity and the
service duties to humanity that such recognition brings. He has become
something more than human. To be initiate, one must take nature as his
master.
This every
Freemason knows. Becoming an initiate is to investigate the hidden
mysteries of nature and science. This could mean ruling and governing
the hidden forces of one’s own nature accordingly. It can be hard,
sometimes embarrassing, to “look beyond the veil,” to admit we do not
have all the answers.
I still
ponder what aspect of the bee first inspired man to consider it as
special and sacred, all those thousands of years ago. Where does the
true secret lie? Is it something as simple as a bee’s sting? Is it the
honey? Is it the buzzing sound? Is it the honeycomb? It’s impossible to
know really, for any one of those traits could easily make it exalted.
“The bee has insights into the secrets of nature, the secrets of creation, and a special connection therefore to the Creator.” ~ (Koran)
The Tracing Boards of John Harris: A Masonic Legacy
When I
joined Freemasonry, I realized the ceremonies were full of symbols
meant to allude to greater meanings. One of the items that caught my
attention during my initiation was the tracing board or picture in the
Lodge room which displays the symbols for the degree. Later I learned
that artist John Harris (1791- 1873) was responsible for creating the
design that I saw displayed. My curiosity was forever peaked to better
understand John Harris and his symbolic art. Although John Harris was
well-respected during his life, I soon discovered that in recent times
he has been labeled “a forgotten artist.” As an advocate for the arts, I
immediately felt a resonance with this hard-working Freemason who
seemingly never got his due.
What can we learn from his life story? Is he really a forgotten artist?
Harris
joined Freemasonry in 1818 during a time of exciting cultural
developments. As part of the new organization of the United Grand Lodge
of England (U.G.L.E.) in 1813, British Freemasons were moving away from
tavern culture. The masons, now owners of beautiful massive buildings,
were able to contemplate adorning them with permanent furnishings such
as antique art or elaborate pipe organs.
Part of the
standardization occurring in the furnishings of new buildings was that
each of the Lodges were to own a set of tracing boards. Upon entering
the Lodge, Harris very quickly became fascinated with the concept of the
tracing boards and started drawing designs almost immediately. His
talents, as a painter, facsimilist, and architectural draughtsman,
fitted him perfectly for the task.
1809 London Freemason’s Hall
In 1823,
Harris dedicated a set to Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the first
Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England. The Grand Master
immediately recognized Harris as a very talented young man. It is
assumed that he commissioned Harris to make a standard official model
for each degree.
These
developments helped to standardize the designs. Until that point, there
had been no consistency in the way the boards were painted. It was not
unusual for individual Lodges to have a variety of symbols and designs
and employ their own artists.
Why are symbols on the tracing boards important to the Freemason?
Albert Mackey, in his book on the Symbolism of Freemasonry, suggests that the symbols that are illustrated for each degree are a key to its mystery.
He writes:
To study the symbolism of Masonry is the only way to investigate its philosophy.
In the
masonic teaching, symbols are a way to investigate the deeper meanings
because they speak to the whole human being, not only the limited waking
intelligence. It is said that a symbol will communicate its “message”
even if the conscious mind remains unaware of the fact. The power of the
symbol does not depend on it being understood.
Harris spent
his whole life painting and studying the symbols of the Craft. As he
furthered his masonic career, his designs evolved accordingly. His life
was his art.
Studying the boards of Harris really made me think about the question:
Can you separate the artist from the art?
1825 Second Degree
Some say art
and an artist’s biography are not so easily separated. What I found
striking about the Harris boards is how much his art did reflect his
life. The first designs he created in 1820, just two years after he
joined, were very simple. I imagine he was still unraveling all the
deep teachings of Freemasonry.
The 1825
designs convey more depth of experience. His life at that time truly
reflected a fruitful craftsman. He was forging his fraternal ties with
the Grand Master, a relationship which seemed to blossom and mature over
time. The Grand Master loved the “Harris Boards,” and every Lodge
wanted a set of the “approved” designs. Harris could hardly keep up with
the orders from the Lodges and also kept very busy as a facsimilist at
the British Museum. His client list consisted of some of the major
collectors in rare books in England, many often royalty.
A 1846 advertisement praises the skill of Harris:
The Craft Tracing Boards have been of essential service in promoting instruction among the Society at large; they are eagerly sought after every place where Freemasonry is cherished.
Relentless demands and grueling labor ensued for the next couple of decades.
1850 “Open Grave” Third Degree
In those
days, there were no photocopy machines so each one of the boards for
each of the lodges had to be hand painted. It was not unusual for a
lodge to wait longer than a year once they ordered a set from Harris.
The last
board he designed was in 1850 for the third degree, referred to as the
“open grave” design. This was a period in his life he found himself
reduced to the lowest state of poverty and distress due to partial
blindness. In 1856, he went completely blind and was paralyzed from a
stroke the same year. The darkness of the 1850 painting gives a feeling
of emotional starkness not experienced in any of his earlier designs.
Although seemingly dismal, the sheer intensity of the painting does
suggest something exceptional.
One of his friends comments:
At the age of sixty-six, he is deprived of the only means he possessed of supporting himself and an invalid wife.
In 1860, Harris moved with his wife to a masonic home in East Croyton for aged Freemasons and
their widows. In earlier times it was named “The Asylum for Worthy,
Aged, and Decayed Freemasons” but known today as “The Royal Masonic
Benevolent Institution (R.M.B.I.).” Harris found an outlet for his art
in the East Croyton home and used his remaining years there to write
poetry to raise money for the R.M.B.I. He answered his summons to the Grand Lodge Eternal on December 28, 1873.
From my
research, I believe that Harris in the truest sense embodied the
teachings of Freemasonry. His strength sustained him to endure in spite
of overwhelming circumstances of unforeseen misfortune. He persevered
until the end, laboring ceaselessly in the tasks that the Master had
confided to his care. In my opinion, he is far from being a “forgotten
artist.” His light continues to shine in one of the most treasured of
all lodge furnishings.
In the words of Beethoven:
Art demands of us that we shall not stand still.
Note: Images for Harris Tracing Boards were retrieved on the website of Harmonie Lodge No. 66.
Brotherly Love: The Heart of a Mason’s Work
Whether
the subject of heart is mulled over by the philosopher or analyzed by
the scientist, one thing is for certain — the heart is one of life’s
most important mysteries.
Freemasonry
reflects this idea, when it instructs that every mason is made ready
first in his heart, and at the close of our Masonic quest, it is the
purified heart which we consecrate to serving Humanity. Among all the masonic teachings, none is more important than brotherly love, relief, and truth.
It is a
familiar aphorism of Vincent van Gogh, and I think a true one, that
which undertaken for the cause of love is well accomplished. Van Gogh
wrote:
It is good to love many things, for therein, lies the true strength. Whosoever loves much, performs much, and can accomplish much….What is done, in love, is well done.
Unfortunately,
in the world today, it seems like the practice of brotherly love falls
short of the ideal. Peace and harmony do not rule the day. There is
conflict here and around the world. Our very home, this tiny little
planet, is in real crisis. The disconnect between the ideal and the
reality bewilders and baffles me. As a humanity, we are just not very
good at the practice of brotherly love. Perhaps it is because we don’t really know what it is.
Are we all just looking for love in all the wrong places?
W.L. Wilmshurst in Meaning of Masonry tells us:
The very essence of the Masonic doctrine is that all men in this world are in search of something in their own nature which they have lost, but that with proper instruction and by their own patience and industry they may hope to find.
Could this “something” be love? BIG LOVE? I have always felt that love is an elusive
subject. We know that it is often driven by a range of factors. To feel love is one thing but to define it is quite another. Brotherly love is not a thing that one can hold in the hand or see with the eye.
subject. We know that it is often driven by a range of factors. To feel love is one thing but to define it is quite another. Brotherly love is not a thing that one can hold in the hand or see with the eye.
Many masonic writers define Brotherly Love as Tolerance.
Although, tolerance is admirable among virtues, I have always felt that
it not a very lofty concept. Sure, if we compare it with outright
bigotry, tolerance is indeed a virtue. But dig a little deeper, and
behind tolerance is a concept a few steps removed from our loftiest
ideals. “I tolerate you” is a far cry from “I love you.”
What is the loftiest expression of brotherly love? If not tolerance, what? How do we find it?
Pantajali’s Raincloud of Knowable Things
Perhaps we
need a nice metaphor to get us thinking at a higher elevation. How about
a magical raincloud? Maybe it rains millions of lofty ideas from
heaven. No one gets wet.
An old Hindu
seer named Pantajali was the first to brand the metaphor of the
“raincloud of knowable things,” which he said stands for a reservoir of
divine Ideas. These “knowable things” or thoughts of the creator can
“rain” into the mind of a man’s nature. Patanjali wrote about the
process of tapping the “raincloud” in his famous Yoga Sutras 
which
were his working tools that he claimed lead a student to wisdom. This
cloud hovers over humanity, ready to precipitate the wonders which deity
holds in store for mankind.
which
were his working tools that he claimed lead a student to wisdom. This
cloud hovers over humanity, ready to precipitate the wonders which deity
holds in store for mankind.
We would all
agree that clouds, even the ones in the web, get attention as metaphors
because they are literally shape-shifters. Clouds as metaphors adorn
our language; a cloud is on the horizon, he’s on cloud nine, every cloud
has a silver lining, it’s cloudy in the east, etc. Clouds are
meaningful symbols on the tracing boards of freemasonry.
In the mind of the Great Architect of the Universe, there are ideas and concepts that are group ideas; they are greater than our individual raincloud.
Pantajali says:
When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.
The point
that Pantajali makes is that we can synchronize our labors on earth with
those patterns laid in the heavens by mere contemplation. For every
upward striving of our thoughts, we become better caretakers of this
beautiful planet earth. Better Freemasons.
Building the Holy Temple in Freemasonry
I have
always felt that Freemasonry was developed for a great purpose, one that
is of pure heart and of great import. But many times, I find myself at a
loss for words to describe this purpose in an integrated, comprehensive
fashion.
In the book Spirit of Masonry, Foster Bailey writes about the eternal purpose of the
mason’s task of building the holy temple. He says this temple is not
just a pile of bricks but it can also represent the unseen holy temple,
the symbolic inner temple inside of each brother.
mason’s task of building the holy temple. He says this temple is not
just a pile of bricks but it can also represent the unseen holy temple,
the symbolic inner temple inside of each brother.
He describes one of the key pillars of this holy temple as the Law of Love. While assembled for labor, the lodge assumes the ideal of this eternal purpose. The Law of Love is expressed as a living ethic of fellowship, brotherly understanding, mutual assistance, charity, and morality.
In Foster Bailey’s words:
Love is the cement that holds the entire divine structure together, and which cements the stones of the temple, producing coherence, support and strength.
To cement
the stones of the temple takes an inner attitude of mind and a
subjective orientation of heart. The vision he writes about is that
someday the symbolic relationship in lodge will be reflected in the
world outside the lodge. The ancient practice of the mystic chain,
holding hands in a circle, is perhaps the most striking symbol to me of
the eternal bonds of brotherhood that unite.
I marvel in
this moment at the possibilities of a world built on the tenets of
brotherly love. The magnificence of the glory outside. The vastness of
the glory inside the human.
May we mark well! May Brotherly Love Prevail!
The Mason’s Sword: Emblem of the Mind
“Never
give a sword to a man who can’t dance.” I’ve heard this proverb many
times over the years. Nobody seems to know who wrote it or what it
actually means. Most contrast the joy and beauty of dancing to the
brutality and violence of the sword. But why are swords always getting
such a bad rap?
Being an
important ritual implement in Freemasonry, I pondered what the phrase
would mean to a Freemason. The sword is a familiar tool, not only
preserved in the blue lodge rituals, but in some of the higher degrees
and degrees of chivalry.
Could it be
that the link between dancing and sword bearing has to do with skill? I
am not so sure. This mysterious little phrase got me to wonder what the
sword might represent as a symbol?
We are taught, objects of ritual usually symbolize a truth. What would that truth be?
The sword
has been known to symbolize strength, authority, protection, and
courage. It is also a symbol of knighthood and chivalry. There are
numerous biblical accounts of angels with swords; swords that were used
in spiritual warfare, and swords drawn as military weapons.
The history
of the sword is full of contradictions. It has a classic duality to it.
On the one hand, a sword was used to destroy and kill and represented
battle and destruction. On the other hand, a sword was used to protect
and was seen a sacred symbol of chivalry.
In many
Deity art images, the sword represents wisdom cutting through ignorance.
Simply, the word sword means to cut at a foe. Just like a physical
sword can kill or maim your opponents, wise words can act like a sword
to slay ignorance.
This made me think, is there anything significant that can be learned from warriors who wielded their swords truly, as weapons?
The Unfettered Mind of the Samurai Warrior
I started reading a book called The Unfettered Mind
by Takuan Sōhō (1573-1645). Soho was a great philosopher, artist, and
teacher of the famous samurai warriors. He had several samurai students
who he was teaching the craft of swordsmanship to, but through the means
of mindful meditation. His mind was so still that he could bring a
swordsman into an entirely different mental state, where time was slowed
down so 
much that the student could respond with absolute precision.
much that the student could respond with absolute precision.
It was
perplexing to me what a Buddhist monk, who has vowed to bring about
enlightenment and salvation to all sentient beings, was doing writing
about sword fighting. The answer lies in Japanese culture. In their
history, the sword is a symbol of life and death, of purity and honor,
of authority and divinity. All these in some respect relate to
enlightenment.
Soho says to his students:
Completely forget about the mind and you will do all things well. The unfettered mind is like cutting through the breeze that blows across the spring day.
To achieve
an enlightened state, Soho suggests that the mind must remain forever
free. The thing that detains the mind most of all is the ego or
self-importance. As soon as we get caught and fixated on any type of
emotional charge — we’re lost. When the ego is subdued, there is nothing
to bind the pure awareness of our creative potential.
The Virtuous Mind of the Freemason
The training
of the mind is also important in making progress in the masonic
science. For masons, the cultivation of virtue is said to give that
steady purpose of the mind, or courage in the face of pain or adversity.
We are all driven in life. I wonder what drives us? Is it greed? Anger?
Desire? Beauty? Love? Peace?
W.L. Wilmshurst writes in his book Meaning of Masonry:
Advancement to Light and Wisdom is gradual, orderly, progressive. The sense-nature must be brought into subjection and the practice of virtue be acquired before the mind can be educated; the mind, in turn, must be disciplined and controlled before truths that transcend the mind can be perceived.
What
Wilmshurst is revealing is that the real measure of power is not about
savage force, not about Olympic weight lifting, but rather the ability
to restrain one’s own mind and thought impulses. Perhaps “restrain” is
not the right word. Restrain implies too
much repression, containment, and pushing down. The idea is more like skillfully transforming one’s vices.
much repression, containment, and pushing down. The idea is more like skillfully transforming one’s vices.
Some say the
worst enemy we fight is the darkness in our own nature — the ego or
selfish self. The ego is real. The ego claims all, clings to all, wants
all, and demands all. It is the Gollum character in the fictional movie Lord of the Rings. There can be no peace, no unity, no justice, no virtue until the selfishness is purged, burned away.
The darkness
in us is why there is always a Tyler (or tiler) outside the door of the
Lodge with a drawn sword to defend his post. None may pass the Tyler
who have big egos or selfish motivations.
Carl Claudy in his Introduction to Freemasonry remarks that we are all Tyler’s of our own life.
Let us all wear a Tiler’s sword in our hearts; let us set the seal of silence and circumspection upon our tongues; let us guard the West Gate from the cowan as loyally as the Tiler guards his door.
Only by such use of the sword do we carry out its symbolism.
How
excellent a thought to wear the Tyler’s sword in our heart. Possibly the
greatest symbolic message the sword offers is about death. Facing death
teaches us important lessons. A knight in battle knows, perhaps as well
as anyone, the immediacy and preciousness of life. And, after he is
gone, did he live well?
As masons,
we learn to treat each day as if it is our last. If we do. When we do.
We will be fully perfected. And then, just maybe, we can truly dance.
The Perfection of Humanity: A Work in Progress
What
if perfection isn’t what you think it is? It is a term that every
Freemason can relate to as part of their understanding. The zeal to
achieve perfection is a core value of the masonic practice. Many
instances of the word turn up in masonic language.
In the
Scottish Rite, the combined degrees of 4 to 14 are called the “Lodge of
Perfection.” In the Egyptian Rite, we find the “Rite of Perfect
Initiates.” When we think of perfection, the idea has positive
connotations. Achievement, completeness, evolution, excellence,
fulfillment, integrity, and so on. People sometimes wear the title of
perfection as a badge of honor.
What does perfection mean, really?
When I was
younger and taking piano lessons, my music teacher’s studio wall was
framed with a picture that said: “Practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect
practice makes perfect.” That was a tall order! Later, I discovered the
view is very different. The merit of perfectionism is called seriously
into question outside the music studio. For example, in the book Gestalt Therapy Verbatim, Fritz Perls writes that if you are “cursed with perfectionism, you are absolutely sunk.”
This
contrast of views can be quite perplexing, since there appears to be
truth on both sides of the equation. Perfectionism can apparently be a
destructive trait or a good trait. The danger with using the word
perfect is that it seems to imply completeness. One of the meanings of
the word perfect is “absolute and unequivocal.” There’s a certain
arrogance built into the word.
Trying to be perfect assumes that you know what perfect would be.
What if perfection is more like a verb? Is perfection a means to an end or the end itself? How is the idea of perfection portrayed in Freemasonry?
The Seed of Perfection
Man has
always been fascinated by the mysterious perception of life and its
purpose. As the hunt for the truth advances, more individuals are
starting to focus on perfection of mind, body, and soul.
Manly Hall writes:
All humans have within them the seed of their own perfection. It is not bestowed; it is revealed. Man is a god in the making, and as in the mystic myths of Egypt, on the potter’s wheel he is being molded.
Manly Hall
suggests that the perfection of potential is within us. We, of
ourselves, are not that perfect, but there’s something within us that
is. The true seeker on his journey ever strives for that hidden secret
lost within — that seed of perfection.
The Buddha named Six Perfections
to work on before illumination will manifest through us: 1)
magnanimity, 2) selflessness, 3) patience, 4) fiery striving, 5)
meditative quiescence, and 6) wisdom. The perfection of wisdom arises
when the first five perfections have been attained. The masonic teaching
focuses on the development of character and virtue as part of the
training. Attention is given to “building in” certain patterns of right
living, thinking and conduct. The Greeks, Persians, and Indians all had
narratives of how to perfect the individual. These are ancient paths
— tried, tested and proven.
Therefore,
it appears that the divine plan for man can be both perfect and
imperfect. The divine impulse that moves us all on the great Way through
life, might be considered a perfect process. However, the product of
this perfect system is yet to be fully manifested. It is truly a “work
in progress.” It is a piece of labor that we must work on continually.
Annie Besant in her book Outer Court calls the process “spiritual alchemy.” She says:
Imagine the spiritual alchemist as taking all these forces of his nature, recognizing them as forces, and therefore as useful and necessary, but deliberately changing, purifying, and refining them.
It is so
interesting to reflect on what it might mean to purify each of our
faculties. What would it mean to guide others through this process of
spiritual alchemy; to educate, to nurture, to listen and not always get
the last word in? I walk with you, my friend, on this path of love and
light back to the divine.
When the service for the divine spills over into assisting the perfection of humanity, it could be so uniquely lovely.
Service: The Highest Ideal
What is
service? The word service is somehow elusive to me because it evokes
different personal ideas in each of us. But anyone involved in a true
service activity knows it is far from personal. It is about others and
the grand design. It is not about “what’s in it for me” or the separate
self. When we see everything in relation to ourselves, so will our
spiritual vision be limited, isolated, and narrow.
Service is
when our heart begins to beat in unison with the heartbeat of the divine
plan, the divine tracing board, not our separatist mind.
I ponder these obligations every time I think about the allegory of King Solomon’s Temple. I recently read a wonderful article about the legend here. The symbolism suggests that true perfection can never end with physical perfection. It is only the means to the end which is spiritual perfection.
The Temple must not only be built, but it must also be spiritualized, often described as “a Temple not made with hands.”
Albert Mackey tells us:
The speculative mason is engaged in the construction of a spiritual temple in his heart, pure and spotless, fit for the dwelling-place of Him who is the author of purity.
When we look
at each other through this glance, we hear an echo of a heavenly realm.
All here and now. I wonder about what it would be like to build and
live in such a sacred community.
Too often
the outer court, with its distractions and fleeting pleasures, demands
our attention in ways that leave us enthralled within the walls of
ourselves, and the veils of the mundane, forgetting our true perfect
master. A call, if not responded to, a knock if ignored, causes the
doors of inner perception to close, at least for a time.
What would
it be like to see the deepest jewel in one another’s soul? What would it
mean for divine faculties to come and take over, replacing all that is
egotistic with all that is eternal? Will the perfection of humanity
always be a work in progress?
A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody contemplates it with an idea of a cathedral in mind.
— Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Mozart: A Freemason Inspired by the Craft
A few
years ago, I spent a great deal of time researching Mozart’s life and
especially his affiliations with Freemasonry. We know much about Mozart
because there are many letters that have been preserved in the archives.
As I poured over these amazing documents, I learned a lot about
history. But it especially got me thinking about how the themes of
freemasonry affected his musical style. After he became a Freemason, his
tools of making music evolved into something completely different.
Do the ideals of Freemasonry inspire an artist?
We know the
craft attracts many men and women from all walks of life. They not only
change and shape their Lodge but the world around them. Mozart, a
prolific musician and a Freemason was a mover and shaker of his time. He
left his mark on the world with more than 600 works in a great range of
genres. There are so many timeless lessons from his character, his
creative process and his music that we can learn from.
At around five years old, he wrote his first composition, a Minuet and Trio in G major, listed as K 1. He eventually made it all the way up to K 626, his Requiem.
Mozart possessed the outstanding ability for “photographing” everything
that he heard. He could attend a concert and later write down the full
composition of the concert. In one of Mozart’s letters to his father
about Prelude and Fugue in C (K 394), Mozart writes:
I composed the fugue first and wrote it down while I was thinking out the prelude.
His genius
was unquestionable. However, we don’t really know what inspired him.
Where did his inspiration come from? What is inspiration, anyway? When
we break apart the word “inspired,” we find it comes from two words “in”
and “spirit.” The word literally means “in spirit.” In other words,
when you are inspired by something, it means that you are living in
spirit or in more masonic terms, “on the plumb.”
Just how important was the tie to freemasonry with his inspiration?
The Fraternity
Mozart
knocked on the door of Freemasonry in 1784. Being twenty-eight years
old, the enlightenment was a glorious time for this young lad. The
setting was revolutionary. Humanity stood on the threshold of a new era.
Composers and musicians would no longer be viewed as mere servants, but
as craftsmen in their own right.
In an excellent book by Paul Nettl called Mozart and Masonry, he remarks:
What led him to Masonry was the reflection and self- contemplation which followed his extensive wandering, and this also brought about the creation of his unique style.
Membership
in the Royal Art for Mozart was not an impulsive act. He attended his
Lodge regularly, advanced in the degrees and had many friends through
his connections with the Lodge.
There is
something very crucial to understand that relates to all this. Years and
years of hard labor gave him a solid foundation to take his music to
the next level. He labored incredibly hard, up at 5 am in the morning
and often burned the midnight oil. He always pushed for something unique
as a true gift to humanity, introducing his own shade of meaning into
whatever he touched.
It would seem that the disciplines of Freemasonry inspired him greatly. No?
Masonic Music
Mozart wrote
a staggering amount of music considering his short years. It must be
acknowledged that being controversial didn’t stop him. His music wasn’t
appreciated by everyone – not even close. He was willing to put himself
out there, especially with his masonic music. What exactly constitutes
Mozart’s masonic music?
Music scholars say that Mozart’s “masonic” music generally falls into three categories.
- Masonic in nature, obviously written for Lodge occasions.
- Masonic in spirit, but not written specifically to be performed in a lodge.
- Written for other purposes, but adapted for use in lodge.
For example, the famous Clarinet Concerto in A Major (K 622)
falls into the third category. Although not written for a Lodge
occasion, he composed it for Anton Stadler, a member of his Lodge, who
he shared the utmost of fidelity. Whenever he wrote as a token of
friendship, he would add a different nuance depending on what the music
was for. It was his gift. His wide circle of Lodge brothers inspired him
greatly. 
Most artists
have admitted that they require the aid of inspiration to accomplish
their work. Etienne Gibson, French philosopher, in Choir of Muses tells how music composer Sibelius describes an inspired experience:
When the final shape of our work depends on forces more powerful than ourselves, we can later give reasons for this passage or that, but taking it as a whole one is merely an instrument. The power driving us is that marvelous logic which governs a work of art. Let us call it God.
I believe that Sibelius is speaking of a different kind of inspiration, one that comes from still Higher Sources, the Great Architect of the Universe. Music is so abstract at times it gives you infinite ways to contact the Divine.
After his death, the Freemasons held a Lodge of Sorrows in Mozart’s memory, and the oration there delivered was printed by Ignez Alberti, a member of Mozart’s own Lodge.
An excerpt follows:
Though it is proper to recall his achievements as an artist, let us not forget to honor his noble heart. He was a zealous member of our order. His love for his brothers, his cooperative and affirmative nature, his charity, his deep joy whenever he could serve one of his brethren with special talents, these were his great qualities. He was a husband and father, a friend to his friends and a brother to his brothers…
Every so
often when I’m lazing about, it makes me incredibly motivated to think
about these histories from classical composers like Mozart. Sadly, we
may never know what inspired Mozart. The composer’s intentions remain
unknowable. I have to say the sheer intensity of his life does suggest
something exceptional. Something inspired by the craft.
Crossing the Language Barrier to Make that Daily Progress in Freemasonry
When I was a very new Freemason, I unintentionally allowed the language barrier to create errors in two of my early papers.
In one paper, I referred to the “broached thurnel”
as “Freemasonry’s lost immovable jewel.” In the other paper, I referred
to the “fulminate,” used to create a bright flash during a crucial
point in an initiation, as “an old Freemasonic tradition,” strongly
implying – because I believed it was – that it was no longer used in
Freemasonry anywhere.
I was wrong
on both counts. I’ve seen the broached thurnel is almost every French
Lodge I’ve visited. While I’ve never seen a fulminate used in a French
Lodge, I did see one in a store room there and was assured that some
Lodges in Paris do still include it in their work.
It really
doesn’t matter that other largely-English language scholars have made
the same mistake about both of these items, that I could cite their
works and still turn out quite a thorough paper. That I was wrong
because I didn’t know I was wrong doesn’t explain it away.
Ignorance
not only is no excuse; it’s dangerous. Freemasons are the shock troops
in the war against ignorance. It is not a good thing for a Freemason to
spread ignorance rather than fight it.
Neither paper ever was published. I doubt they ever will be, and with these errors born of ignorance, that’s a good thing.
I’m not
aware of any Masonic tradition that does not direct Freemasons to make a
daily progress in Masonry, which generally is reckoned as spending part
of each day learning something about the Craft that the Freemason
didn’t know before. In addition to the seven liberal arts, early 20th
Century Masonic scholar Roscoe Pound, in the April 1915 edition of The Builder, identified five areas appropriate for Masonic Study: Ritual, History, Philosophy, Symbolism, and Jurisprudence.
Certainly,
for Freemasons in Anglo-centric countries, it’s no real problem to find
Masonic works in English. However, making that daily progress only in
one’s mother tongue, cuts a Freemason off from progress to be gained in
other parts of the world, and necessarily, renders their efforts in
isolation to become isolated, provincial even. That leaves the Freemason
open to the sorts of errors that I made and, worse, stunts that
progress.
I believe it is incumbent upon Freemasons to open their daily progress enough to include works from other languages.
My
observation is that English-only Masonic readers seem to be OK with
pictures sourced from other language cultures. Images based on
engravings by Louis Travenol, better known as “Léonard Gabanon,”
of French Blue Lodge Masonry long have been popular illustrations in
English-language Masonic books and papers, particularly in general works
about the first three degrees. Daniel Beresniak’s very popular Masonic
picture book “Symbols of Freemasonry” was first published in 2000 but
clearly uses delightful images sourced from French Freemasonry.
Images, it seems, don’t become trapped behind the language barriers but words do.
And yet,
there’s plenty in French Masonic scholarship in particular to motivate
an otherwise English-only reader to blow the dust off a
French-to-English dictionary or keep a browser window open to Google
Translator. When I realized my errors in those two papers were caused by
my ignorance of French Masonry, it didn’t take me long to find the
works of Swiss occultist Joseph Paul Oswald Wirth, who wrote extensively about the Blue Lodge. More recently, I’ve been studying Philippe Langlet’s 2009 “Les sources chrétiennes de la légende d’Hiram” (comes with a very cool CD) and Joseph Castelli’s 2006 “Le Nouveau Regulateur du Macon – Rite Français 1801.”
One of my personal favorite works in French Masonic scholarship is Maurice Bouchard and Philippe Michel’s “Le Rit Français d’origine 1785,” published this past July. That was a follow up to Michel’s “Genèse du Rite Écossais Ancien et Accepté,” the most recent edition of which was published in February and also resides on one of my shelves.
Michel’s
most recent work details what also is known as the “Primordial of
France” (Rit Primordial de France) or even “canonical” (canonique)
French Rite so widely worked in France today. It isn’t often a Masonic
reader can read which paragraphs of a rite are connected to what passage
or receive an explanation of how any rite was reconstituted, complete
with columns, tables, symbols. And if the English reader allows the
French language of the work to be a barrier, then the reader won’t get
any of that at all.
I’m not
suggesting that no efforts have been made at cross-cultural/language
research in Freemasonry, because there has been a limited – though
notable – amount of that. Lilith Mahmud’s “The Brotherhood of Freemason Sisters,” about gender history in Italian Freemasonry, was published by University of Chicago Press in 2014.
A very good sequel to Margaret Jacob’s 1991 “Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe” and the UCLA History Department Professor’s 2006 “The Radical Enlightenment – Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans” is her 2011 “Les Premières franc-maçonnes au siècle des Lumières.”
That book, co-authored in French with Arizona State University’s Janet
Burke, was published in French by the Presses Universitaires de
Bordeaux, prefaced by noted French Masonic scholars Cécile Révauger,
Jean-Pierre Bacot, and Laure Caille.
Masonic works in languages other than English certainly are readily available, especially online. Detrad
offers the very best in French language Masonic work, I’ve had
delightfully opportunities to drool over books in their brick-and-mortar
location next door to the Grand Orient de France in Rue Cadet, Paris.
An entire paper was written in 2008 about Spanish-language Masonic books printed in the U.S. The Spanish language Masonic research journal “Revista de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería” actively produces Masonic works in that language.
The tools are there to do this work, the individual Freemason just needs to do it.
Yes,
overcoming the language barrier as part of one’s daily progress in
Freemasonry is work, and it’s far from easy. However, no one who is work
shy should become a Freemasonry – no more than anyone who becomes a
Freemason should become lazy. The results are worth it but actually
doing that work is its own reward. The work is, after all, the thing.
Neil Morse and the Lost Knoop Paper
Neil Wynes Morse has been looking for a missing paper written by a giant in Masonic scholarship during the first half of the 20th Century but that was, nonetheless, rejected for publication shortly before the author’s death.
He’s not the
only one looking. However, Morse is one of the world’s leading experts
in Masonic ritual development, President of the Australia and New
Zealand Masonic Research Council and is scarily good at finding things
others likely give up for lost. If he can’t find it, the paper likely
won’t turn up in any obvious place.
The paper’s
title is known, “Dr. Anderson and the Charges of a Freemason,” and it
was written by noted economist and Masonic scholar Douglas Knoop. It was
rejected for publication after receiving a thumbs down by a high
ranking officer of the United Grand Lodge of England shortly before
Knoop died in the fall of 1948.
Douglas Knoop, from the frontispiece of vol 48 of Ars Quatuor Coronaturum
Among the
last people, then, to know where the paper was were members of the
Manchester Association for Masonic Research (MAMR). “It sounds as if the
chaps in Manchester know about the document,” Morse told me during an
online interview. “And with the number of people who’ve looked at the
Knoop papers over the years, I’m surprised it hasn’t seen the light of
day, assuming that it exists.”
Like any
wise Masonic scholar, Knoop had a good day job. He was an economist by
profession, being appointed an assistant lecturer at Manchester
University shortly after he graduated there and in 1910 he was put in
charge of the Economics department at the at The University of
Sheffield, where he became a professor in 1920 and worked until shortly
before he died in 1948. He also served on various trade boards and,
during World War II, he worked at the Ministry of Munitions. He wrote
extensively about his field in economics. The annual “Knoop Lecture,” “Knoop Prize” and the “Knoop Centre” in the Economics Department at The University of Sheffield are named after him.
He became a
Freemason in December 1921 when he joined University Lodge No. 3911 at
Sheffield and for almost three decades pursued an impressive Masonic
career, during one period simultaneously occupying the chair in five
different Masonic bodies. As a scholar, he was a regular contributor to Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076’s annual Ars Quatuor Coronaturum (AQC), the world’s longest continuously running and arguably most prestigious Masonic research journal.
He was a Prestonian Lecturer
who at times teamed up with fellow scholar G.P. Jones to produce a
fairly vast number of papers and books. The best known of his books in
Masonic scholars include “The Genesis of Freemasonry,” “Early Masonic Pamphlets,” “Early Masonic Catechisms”
and “The Medieval Mason: An Economic History of English Stone Building
in the Later Middle Ages and Early Modern Times.” One would be very hard
pressed to find a good modern work on Masonic scholarship that doesn’t
include Knoop’s work in its bibliography.
He certainly
was influential in Masonic research circles during his time, so it’s a
bit surprising to turn up the story about his final paper, as Morse did
earlier this year when he came upon a mention of it in the MAMR
Transactions for 1948[1].
Further information came to light about the paper when a later
published history of MAMR was consulted and there Morse came upon what
little is definitively known about Knoop’s final paper[2]:
“An
unusual fate befell one paper this year. WBro Professor Douglas Knoop
PAGDC paid what proved to be his farewell visit to Manchester, when he
read a paper entitled ‘Dr. Anderson and the Charges of a Freemason’. His
paper was controversial and he submitted a copy to the Grand Secretary
[of the UGLE], who requested that it not be published.”
That’s all,
no explanation of why it was controversial and why the Grand Secretary
of the UGLE, Sir Sidney White, asked for it not to be published. The
paper’s name doesn’t sound especially controversial, so the idea that it
was is quite intriguing, no less so considering Knoop died at age 65 on
21 October 1948, shortly after his last paper was rejected.
Morse went
on a search to find the paper, searching for clues in such places as
Knoop’s obituary in the AQC and in Colin Dyer’s “History of the First 100 years of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076,” as well as online searches and queries to other scholars.
Morse soon discovered that R.A. Gilbert, co-author with John Hamill of “World Freemasonry: And Illustrated History”
and other significant works, had made an attempt to find the paper but
had not succeeded. Gilbert did, however, turn up the additional tidbit
that “only his death shortly afterwards prevented a first class row”[3].
Morse also
contacted the UGLE’s Museum and Library in London as the Grand Secretary
in 1948 did have a copy and the library still holds some correspondence
about the paper[4].
Unfortunately, the staff reported there was no copy of the paper there,
though they wish there was; that searches have been made in the past
but those searches were not successful.
The library
does have Knoop’s letter to the Grand Secretary, dated 21 June 1948,
with a penciled note by QC member John Dashwood stapled to the back, and
White’s reply dated the following 26 July[5].
Knoop’s
letter indicates the MAMR had a copy of the paper but that he, Knoop,
wanted it back if it could not be published. It was, after all, the era
before word processors and printers, when full manuscripts were very
precious things, so Knoop’s paper might have been returned to him. There
also is the very real possibility that, because the paper was
controversial, it was destroyed.
The trail of
the paper goes cold from there and Morse presently knows of nowhere
else to look. “That’s not to say that a copy exist doesn’t somewhere,”
Morse said. “It seems to me possible that a copy may be included in a
file of various bits and bobs called ‘Knoop papers NES’ or similar – and
not necessarily in either London or Manchester.”
“I remain optimistic that the paper will surface at some stage. But I won’t be holding my breath.”
[1] MAMR Transactions, Vol XXXVIII, state on page 161 ‘Unfortunately, this is unavailable for publication in the Transaction’.
[2]
Specifically, “More Masonry Into Men: the Story of Manchester Lodge and
Association for Masonic Research With Suggestion for a Course of
Masonic Reading and An Index to the First Forty Volumes of the
Transactions (1909-1950)” by Fred L Pick, printed for the MAMR in 1951
(page 56).
[3] (AQC 107, 1995, p.4)
[4] AQC v107, p4 and fn 28 on p7. The material is not catalogued online.
[5] All of which is under copyright, so anyone who wants to see it has to visit the library and inquire.
Under the Banner of Universal Co-Masonry: The Institution of Polaris Lodge
It is
the custom of Freemasons to gather to lay the foundation stone or
dedicate and consecrate certain places in time-honored ceremonies. For
example, on September 18, 1793, President George Washington, a
Freemason, laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol and was assisted by the Grand Master of Maryland Joseph Clark, in a Masonic ritual.
The newspaper of the day reported:
“On Wednesday, one of the grandest Masonic processions took place, for
the purpose of laying the corner-stone of the Capitol of the United
States, which, perhaps, was ever exhibited on the like important
occasion.” 
Following
Masonic tradition, such sacred work was accomplished on September 23,
2017, when Universal Co-Masonry instituted Polaris Lodge in Dallas,
Texas. The ceremony was conducted on that Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m.
The Most
Sovereign Grand Commander Magdalena I. Cumsille presided and granted
Dispensation to the Dallas brethren to form Polaris Lodge. Addressing those assembled, the M.S.G.C. stated:
Since time immemorial, it has been custom among Freemasons to dedicate certain places, persons, or things to Divinity, in order to prepare them for a specific role and purpose. Today, honoring that ancient tradition, we are assembled here to birth Polaris Lodge: the first of many Lodges to be instituted under the banner of Universal Co-Masonry.
Brothers
from all orients of Universal Co-Masonry united fraternally to dedicate
the Lodge that arose from the continued labors of so many. The name Polaris 
was
chosen by the Brothers of the new Lodge, which is the name of the
celestial body also referred to as the North Star or Pole Star.
was
chosen by the Brothers of the new Lodge, which is the name of the
celestial body also referred to as the North Star or Pole Star.
Polaris is
famous for remaining virtually still in the sky while the entire
northern sky moves around it. That is because of its location which is
nearly at the north celestial pole, the point around which the entire
northern sky turns.
As
Freemasonry is an ancient craft of Builders, Polaris has long been an
important point of orientation. Before the invention of the compass,
builders laid out the north and south lines of their foundations by
observing the heavens. Of particular usefulness was Polaris, which
allowed for the alignment of a perfect North and South line. Freemasonry
venerates the great builder, King Solomon of Israel, who raised a
sublime Temple, which he dedicated to God. During the ceremony, the
M.S.G.C. explained:
It is important to remember that true enlightenment can never be achieved except in the Spirit of Brotherhood, based on unity in Spirit. King Solomon is one of the main characters in the annuals of Freemasonry, and he had this in mind when he concentrated the attention of the whole nation in building his Temple….When the Temple was finished, the King said: “I have surely built Thee a house of habitation, a place for Thee to dwell forever.” (I Kings 8:13)
Following the tradition of the Ancient Israelites, the Temple was consecrated with corn, wine, oil, and salt to launch a new unit of brotherhood into the United Federation of Lodges.
In addition
to its usefulness to the Craft in building, Polaris has long been
regarded as a guide and orientation point to travelers across the globe.
Brother Albert Mackey, expounded on the importance of Polaris in his book, “An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry,” by stating:
The North Star is the Pole Star, the Polaris of the mariner, the Cynosaura, that guides Freemasons over the stormy seas of time.
For two thousand years, sailors and travelers have used this star as a means of navigation. Brother P.D. Newman, in his work, “Freemasonry and the Art of Moral Navigation,” wrote:
The North Star then, both literally and symbolically, is that guiding light by which a traveling man may find his way back home, that is, back to the center.
With the institution of this new body completed, the Brethren assembled then celebrated the occasion with a festive banquet.
Congratulations to all of the Brothers who have dedicated their time and efforts in the formation of the new Lodge. May the light of Polaris shine forever as a guide for the builders of the Temple of Humanity.
A United Endeavor: Universal Co-Masonry’s Five-Year Plan
Robert
Kennedy once stated, “Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery
in battle or great intelligence, but it is the one essential quality to
change the world.” We, as Freemasons, know something about changing the
world, but how serious are we about completing the work we are called to do? Do we possess that “moral courage” necessary to stand up to ignorance and change the world?
Universal Co-Masonry is taking the steps to create a better world through the implementation of an innovative Five-Year
Plan. The plan was released during the Honorable Order of Universal
Co-Masonry’s Annual Summer Workshop at its headquarters in Larkspur,
Colorado held from August 5th through August 12th of this year. Brothers
arrived from Lodges throughout the Americas to attend the workshop, a
semi-regular tradition in the Order for more than a century.
Universal Co-Masonry’s Most Sovereign Grand Commander, Brother Magdalena I. Cumsille announced an ambitious and detailed Five-Year Plan to
accomplish the task at hand. Speaking to those assembled, she stated,
“It is our duty as Masons to make a better world for, not only
ourselves, but for those that come after us.” In his address which
followed, President Matias Cumsille issued this call to action: “Let it
be a united endeavor: a place where Freemasons toil together in the
great work.”
The work of
the Five Year Plan is separated into seven divisions of labor,
including: 1) Expand the Masonic Philosophical Society, 2) Establish the
Masonic Publishing Company, 3) Institute the Masonic College of Arts
and Sciences, 4) Found the Masonic Order of Service, 5) Implement the
Order’s Energy Initiative, 6) Finalize the Order’s Technology
Initiative, and 7) Commence the Order’s Historical Document Preservation
Program.
The Masonic Philosophical Society
The first step in the Five-Year Plan is to expand the reach of the existing Masonic Philosophical Society
(M.P.S.) to include additional online platforms. The mission of the
M.P.S. is to destroy ignorance through the advancement of research and
understanding of the sciences, arts, and humanities. Utilizing
online video conferencing technology, the M.P.S. will be better
equipped to fulfill its mission across the globe. Since the commencement
of the first online study center, individuals from around the world
have been able to participate in the educational opportunities,
including men and women from India, Madagascar, Germany, Spain, England,
and Canada. “We are planning on establishing a European online M.P.S.
study center, as well as a new physically-located M.P.S. Study Center in
Asia,” explained President Matias Cumsille.
The Masonic
Philosophical Society was founded in January of 2009 to provide
interactive educational opportunities for adults beyond the nationally
required post-secondary schooling. Since 2009, the M.P.S. has expanded
its operation to include 25 centers in North and South America. With
more than 60,000 members, the M.P.S. has created a worldwide movement
and community. To learn more about the Society, follow the online M.P.S. Journal, interact with the global community, or inquire about membership, visit the M.P.S. website or the M.P.S. Facebook page.
The Masonic Publishing Company
Another ongoing project expected to get an evolutionary boost in the next five years is The Masonic Publishing Company: an innovative and independent publisher of books. 
“Its objective is to publish rare, esoteric, occult and philosophical books,” President Matias Cumsille added.
“Its objective is to publish rare, esoteric, occult and philosophical books,” President Matias Cumsille added.
Created to
bring new light to the great enigmatic works of the past, M.P.C. books
include new material added by Freemasons to inspire modern inquiry. The
M.P.C. is the proud publisher of a selection of books which have been
handpicked to inspire our readers to reach their fullest potential. One
might call it a Must-Read List for Seekers of Wisdom, including members
of the Brotherhood of Freemasonry, which encircles the globe.
The Masonic College of Arts and Sciences
Another step in the Five Year Plan is the formation of a Masonic College to provide education for seekers throughout the world. The Masonic College of Arts and Sciences (M.C.A.S.) is a private liberal arts college which will offer educational courses based on 
the synthesis of Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science.
the synthesis of Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science.
The College
is oriented specifically for those individuals in search of higher
understanding beyond that found in traditional universities and dogmatic
institutions. M.C.A.S. endorses the Integrated Approach to its studies and discourages Reductionism – the approach used in an overwhelming majority of higher educational institutions.
“Initially, courses will be online,
and we will offer two undergraduate degrees, both founded on the Seven
Liberal Arts and Sciences,” President Matias Cumsille stated. “We
will be working to ensure the accreditation of the college through the
Colorado Department of Higher Education in the next five years.”
Further Steps in the Five-Year Plan
Other initiatives in the Five-Year Plan include the formation of the Masonic Order of Service, detailed in an earlier blog, an Energy Initiative to make the Order’s headquarters more self-sustaining through the installation of solar and wind power, and a Technology Initiative
to update the structure of the Order for dissemination of Masonic
studies. The final step of the Order’s plan is to preserve historical
documents as part of the Order’s Historical Document Preservation Program.
“Let us begin the Work. We cannot wait, for time is a gift rarely used wisely.”
— Most Sovereign Grand Commander, Magdalena I. Cumsille
Finding the Middle Path: Esoteric and Non-Esoteric Freemasonry
There are two groups in Freemasonry, the so-called “Esoterics” and “Non-Esoterics,” who too often do not get along. They should. After all, they need each other.
This, to my
mind, is best illustrated by an image I have observed floating around
the Internet for a decade. It’s the High Priestess card in the Rider
Waite tarot deck with the Kabbalistic “Eitz haChayim” (עץ החיים) or, in English, The Tree of Life, superimposed upon it.
My
own version of it is pictured above, along with a box of cigars.
Because, as in the statement often is attributed to famed psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. It does not really
matter if Freud ever said or wrote that. The point is that things are not always metaphors or symbols for something else.
That said, I think it’s equally possible for them to be and not to be – all at the same time.
My
observation of the High Priestess Card and Tree of Life pairing is that
individuals, especially those esoterically inclined, who see the
connection for the first time, generally experience a kōan
moment. That is to say that their minds are completely blown. There is a
good deal to be gained in such a moment, i.e. when the mind is
absolutely blank. That seems to be the aim of a good portion of esoteric
study, inside Freemasonry and out. The aim being to assist the neophyte
in unraveling hidden or higher truths deep within themselves and
stretching outward to farthest reaches of the Universe.
The image itself supposedly originated with an unknown individual, possibly the late Paul Foster Case, who
noted that if you draw circles around the pomegranates on the card and
then draw lines between them the image drawn resembles the Tree of Life.
The problem is that the tree of life cannot actually be constructed
through the process. As is the case with many of these studies, this
exercise breaks down under non-esoteric scrutiny.
There are no
pomegranates on the card to represent the lower Sephirot, namely Yesod
and Malkuth. Thus, the High Priestess’ knees and toes, along with one
end of the crescent moon, must be pressed into service. A circle around
the cross at the center of her chest also is required. Without those
pomegranate-free circles, there is no Tree of Life on the card. The
decision to accept any part of the picture, in an exercise to connect an
image, leaves us open to circles, squares, and other doodles on the
card.
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life
In my
observation, the esoterically inclined Brother may declare that, simply
by making that perfectly reasonable observation, the non-esoterically
inclined Brother is just not open to the experience and not worthy of
the special knowledge imparted. The non-esoterically inclined Brother
may reply that the whole thing is nonsense and then try to turn the
subject toward something practical, such as an upcoming fundraiser.
That, in
turn, frustrates the esoterically inclined Brother, who sees the
upcoming fundraiser as meaningless compared to the exploration in search
of answers about life, the universe, etc. The Brothers with opposing
viewpoints might even start squabbling at this point, each implying that
the other should be more like themselves.
That
argument generally leaves those individuals in the middle thinking both
of the original points is valid and worth considering. They may wonder
why those on either side cannot get along.
To be clear,
as a historian in Freemasonry I have endured my own share of being
annoyed with esoterically inclined writers who, to my mind, flippantly
make up historical events to bolster their own writings. Quite recently,
I heard an operative alchemist claim that medieval architecture
originated with the Templars, stating it as a fact without supporting
documentation, something more academically minded Templar scholars would
have no trouble refuting.
Robert Lomas
and Christopher Knight, who were big deals when I came into Freemasonry
about a decade ago, have been seen by some to invent things to bolster
the message and lessons they want to get across.
Which, I
think, is the point. For esoteric writers, the focus is on the message
or lesson they are trying to teach not necessarily about the complete
historical accuracy of the facts underlying their arguments. They may
ignore some historical data or information if it is seen as cumbersome,
irrelevant, or diminishing to their argument.
Non-esoteric
writers may prefer to establish their messages and lessons in
well-documented and verifiable historical analysis. To do otherwise, may
seem to these writers as “making up history.” They also might express a
certain irritation that esoteric books far outsell non-esoteric tomes.
Both points of view are valid, but both sides also often also forget to take a hard look at themselves.
I
suppose it might be helpful, even this late in the blog, to define the
term “esoteric”, which is no easy thing. Merriam-Webster lists the
popularity of the word “esotericism“as being in the bottom 30 percent of popular words and defines it as “the quality or state of being esoteric.”
The Concentric Spheres of “The Key to Dante’s Divine Comedy,” by Augustus Knapp
The same source defines “esoteric” as pursuing something “designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone” (my emphasis) or “requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group.”
To be
“non-esoteric,” in Freemasonry and without, would be not to be part of
that specially initiated group or to not have that knowledge restricted
to the small group. Or, I suppose, to reject all that.
Brothers on both sides live in the same place. They really do, but they fail to recognize the concentric spheres –
spheres that share the same center – which make up that place. In
Freemasonry, there are those who labor in the Inner Order, they who keep
the Light; and those who labor in the Outer Order, they who keep the
lights on.
There is no
point in making sure the power bill is paid to keep the lights on if
there is no Light to keep; and the Light cannot very well be kept if the
power bill is not paid to keep the lights on.
There are
Brothers who prefer the Outer Order. They enjoy the sumptuous banquets,
the social functions, and getting out into the world to show how good
Freemasons can be. The Outer Order excels at financial planning, in
setting aside trusts for the future, for that is where the Outer Order
lives. They are careful to remember the past and plan for the future.
The Brothers
of the Inner Order live in the Now. They see Freemasonry as a body of
individual seekers of Light, an heir to the ancient mystery schools, and
a system to impart morality, ethics, and the benefits of mutual
service. The Inner Order tends to dismiss the past as unimportant and
reckons the future will take care of itself. For them, clarity and
correctness about the past and future is a secondary concern to the now.
Ancient Mystery School Symbolism
Then there
are those achingly tolerant Brethren, “hybrids,” who can pass between
the spheres and see value in both. They historically have been in the minority in Freemasonry
but, in my observation, their numbers are increasing. I see them as
Brothers deeply rooted in the center. I wish there were more of them.
I am not the
first to observe this disharmony between the spheres. Bro. Robert
Davis, in his 2010 paper “The Path of the Esotericists Among Us,”
pointed out that “no sincere adept’ would force truth on someone not
prepared to contemplate it. “We all know Masons who believe with all
their heart there is nothing spiritual about the rituals of Masonry,”
Bro. Davis wrote.
There are those who claim there is nothing to learn beyond the ritual words. There are even more who are appalled when it is suggested that Kabbalistic, Alchemical, or Hermetic associations might be made from a study of the Degrees of Masonry. Never mind that every aspirant is told before he receives the very first Degree that Masonry is a course of hieroglyphic instruction taught by allegories. Oh well. As obvious as this may seem to the esoteric minded among us, there is little to be gained by arguing with those who aren’t listening.
I would add to Davis’ point that there *is* a middle path. It is worth seeking, and Esoterics and Non-Esoterics need to tolerate, if not respect, each other.
Until we can
all be there, I continue to hope that Brothers of the Inner and Outer
orders will learn to respect and tolerate each other. I hope that they
will try – please try – not to encroach too much into the opposite
sphere. At least not until they are ready to do so harmoniously and
fully recognizing that the Brother in the opposite sphere who does not
get you and who is not open to your experience is the Brother who makes
sure that you do and are.
Marie Bourgeois Goaziou and North American Co-Freemasonry
The
woman to whom Co-Freemasonry in North America arguably owes a great debt
of thanks, Marie Bourgeois Goaziou, died 100 years ago this year.
It’s
doubtful that North American Co-Freemasonry would have survived if not
for her. And, yet, there is not one comment, letter, paper, or quotation
of hers that is known. She had to have been an interesting lady. For
now, we have to take that on faith.
Like many
women in history, what we think we know about Marie Goaziou is based on
the men in her life, though we don’t know that much about even them. Her
father’s name was John Bourgeois, but we know little more about him
than his name. The same can be said for her mother, Marie Lepis[1]. She was born 24 July 1866[2] in Namur, the capital city of Wallonia in Belgium, where the Meuse and Sambre rivers meet.
Nothing is
know about her childhood, even if she had siblings, though we do know
she could read and write as she later helped in her husband’s newspaper
business. Literacy alone would have set her apart from a lot of
contemporary working class girls in her time.
We also
don’t know what her parents did for a living but we do know that the
family arrive to Pennsylvania, via Canada, when she was six years old.
By 1883, they were living in the mining town of Houtzdale[3]. Shortly after her 17th
birthday, Marie Bourgeois saved Co-Freemasonry in North American almost
two decades before it was founded by convincing a young Louis Goaziou,
future Grand Commander of the Order, not to return to his home in
France.
Goaziou had
arrived in Houtzdale from a fairly comfortable life in Brittany and
spent the next two years mining coal and hating it. He was the best
educated coal miner in the region, but it didn’t help. In midsummer of
1883, 19-year-old Goaziou sold his mining tools and announced to his
friends that he was going home on a Monday.
“On Saturday, we had a farewell party at the boarding house with music and dancing,” Louis Goaziou later recalled[4].
Louis
Goaziou also recalled meeting Marie at that party, but that seems
unlikely. Houtzdale was a small community, and it seems impossible this
could have been their first meeting. What seems more likely is that he
noticed her for the first time. In the more than two years he’d lived
there, Marie had blossomed into an attractive young woman. He was badly
smitten.
He walked
her home from the party and, that same night, discussed marriage with
her and her parents. Marie Bourgeois was firm. She was willing to marry
him, but she didn’t want to leave her parents. Louis Goaziou had to
choose between going home or remaining in the United States to marry
Marie Bourgeois and return to the coal mines he hated. He chose to
remain.
They were married in Houtzdale on the 28th of August in 1883.
She could
not have known that by convincing Goaziou to remain, Marie Bourgeois
also insured that he was around during the chaotic period in 1908 when
Goaziou effectively saved Co-Freemasonry in North America. She likely
did know that she was entering the hard working world of a late 19th
Century coal miner’s wife. The couple had eight children together –
half of whom died in infancy and only three of whom made it to adulthood[5]. Of those three, one, their oldest daughter Clemence, died only days shy of her 18th birthday.
Life as a
western Pennsylvania coal miner’s wife had a certain predictability to
it, but Louis Goaziou was no ordinary coal miner, so Marie Goaziou could
have been no ordinary miner’s wife. Goaziou became embroiled in union
activism, as well as Anarchist and then Socialist politics, as together
the two embarked upon a peripatetic life. By 1885, they were in
MacDonald, where he worked loading coal machine and whispered “union” to
his co-workers.
He did that
too much and lost his job in MacDonald the following spring, sending the
Goazious back to Houtzdale. Two years later, they were in Hastings in
neighboring Cambria County before returning again to Houtzdale two years
after that. Louis Goaziou also joined the Knights of Labor and became
active in other radical workers groups.
Louis
Goaziou’s health began to fail. He suffered at least one bout of measles
and developed lung ailments that would plague him much of the rest of
his life. Marie Goaziou presumable nursed him through much of that. It
didn’t stop him from fighting for union representation among the miners
of western Pennsylvania, despite the efforts of mine owners to starve
the family out.
While the
family was in Hastings, Louis Goaziou obtained a small Kelso printing
press and started the first of a series of newspaper. The earliest were
small, little more than leaflets, but they culminated in Union des
Travailleurs, published in Charleroi. Goaziou family tradition states
that Marie Goaziou kept the books for the newspapers and that the
remaining ledgers are in her hand.
In 1902, Union des Travailleurs
came to the attention of Antoine Muzzarelli, a French Freemason who was
trying to found Co-Freemasonry in North America and was looking for the
first Master of the new Order’s first Lodge. After corresponding with
Louis Goaziou for about a year, Muzzarelli arrive in Charleroi on the
17th of October in 1903. There he met with more than a dozen men who
crowded into the living room of the Goaziou home at 730 Washington
Avenue.
That same evening, Louis Goaziou asked his wife if she’d like to become a Freemason. She said, “Yes.”
Two days
later, Marie Goaziou became one of the first women Co-Masons in North
America when she was Initiated, Passed, and Raised into Alpha Lodge No.
301 in Charleroi, becoming a Charter member of the Lodge. Louis Goaziou
probably was in the East that day, only one day after his own
Initiation, Passing and Raising. Alpha Lodge’s record is not complete,
but Marie Goaziou appears to have remained active in Alpha Lodge, as
well as, acting as hostess to a number of Co-Masonic leaders. These
leaders included Muzzarelli and later members of the National Council,
who often stayed at the Goaziou home when they were in town. In this
way, she likely exercised influence, though she lacked authority, so
long as her health remained good.
Unfortunately, in about 1906, Marie Goaziou’s health began to fail[6].
She had developed what her death certificate later described as
“biliary cirrhosis of [the] liver,” which may have been caused by a
severe case of hepatitis: an illness that was at epidemic proportions in
the early 20th Century Western Pennsylvania coal fields. In
late 1906 into the following spring, Marie Goaziou spent months in
hospital and ever underwent surgery, which seems to have brought only
little relief. Over the next decade, she was ill more often than she was
well and her husband, whom she’d nursed through years of his own
illnesses and whose own health remained precarious, now nursed her.
Marie
Goaziou died on April 5, 1917 in the family’s apartment over their print
shop in Charleroi. She was 50 years old. Her death was reported on the
front page of the local newspaper.
It can be
difficult at times to nail down one Brother’s contribution to any
Masonic Order, but the debt Co-Freemasonry owes to Marie Bourgeois
Goaziou is clear enough, even if her own words and ideas haven’t
survived. Thanks to her, North American Co-Freemasonry did survive.
[1]
Her parents’ names are listed on Marie Goaziou’s death certificate,
preserved by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I have
found those names nowhere else, so additional research is needed.
[2]
Ibid and her Memory Card, preserved in the Archives of the Honorable
Order of American Co-Masonry, the American Federation of Human Rights.
[3]
From Louis Goaziou’s dictated brief autobiography, “Written enroute to
and at El Paso for Initiation Ceremonies”, also preserved in the Order’s
archives.
[4] Ibid.
[5] See page 3 of eulogy delivered at Louis Goaziou’s funeral in 1937, preserved in the Order’s archives.
[6]
See Andrée Prat’s “Louis Goaziou (1864-1937)”, published in Cahiers de
la Commission d’Histoire, Fédération française du Droit Humain, n°9
/février 2004.
The Real Origins of Prince Hall Freemasonry
A
paradox in Freemasonry, where Brothers are supposed to have a high
regard for truth, is that the same Brothers have been known to downplay,
ignore, and suppress truth that is found to be inconvenient.
The
so-called “clandestine” roots of Prince Hall Freemasonry is one
inconvenient truth that author and researcher E. Oscar Alleyne, a member
of Wappingers No. 671, which labors under the Grand Lodge of New York,
wasn’t afraid to talk about during a recent conference. Specifically
(*SPOILERS*), that the first Prince Hall lodge, African Lodge No. 1,
wasn’t founded on March 6, 1775 with assistance from a so-called
“regular” military lodge. Instead, the date likely was in 1778 and
assistance came from a degree peddler (*END SPOILERS*).
It was not
unusual in the 18th Century for lodges to independently form on their
own and then go looking for a Grand Lodge to provide them with a charter
or warrant. In that context, African Lodge’s true origins are nothing
to be concerned about. Brothers have been anyway, Alleyne said during an
all-too-brief presentation of his paper at the International Conference of Masonic Research Lodges, the ICOM, this past May in Toulon, France.
“Some people
don’t like the truth of this story because they think it means that
Prince Hall was clandestine or was irregularly made,” Alleyne said.
Getting
stuck on that notion misses the greater point: that African Lodge
overcame racism, the then current enslavement of most peoples of color
in North American, and the war-encroaching international politics to
come into being, Alleyne said. “They were able to accomplish something
that didn’t seen accomplishable,” he said.
I strongly recommend reading the online version of Alleyne’s paper,
including maps and documents I’ve never seen before, because a brief
summary is all I can offer here. Alleyne cites as his text John L.
Hairston’s “Landmarks of our Fathers: A Critical Analysis of the Start and Origin of African Lodge No. 1,”
edited by Alleyne. Hairston, a publisher, author, and researcher, is a
demitted member of Harmony Lodge No. 2, which labors under the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington, and a member of University Lodge 141, which labors under the Grand Lodge of Washington.
Alleyne
started where most Masonic scholars and casual readers start, with the
legend that Bostonian caterer and leather dresser Prince Hall. Hall, a
free man of color, along with other free men of color in the same city,
decided to form their own lodge after being turned away from existing
lodges. According to that legend, Hall and 14 others were initiated into
Freemasonry by Irish Military Lodge No. 441, under the direction of WM
Sergeant John Batt, on March 6, 1775. By July of the following year,
African Lodge was organized under a limited permit from Batt, and by
1779, thirty-three Brothers were listed on the rolls of the Lodge.
Prince Hall later petitioned the Grand Lodge of England for a warrant or
charter, which was granted June 30th, 1784.
That story, told and retold for generations and included on a number of Prince Hall websites,
was written in the early 20th Century – not Freemasonry’s shiny era of
accurately written histories – by William H. Grimshaw, most noted for
his “Official History of Freemasonry Among the Colored People” published in 1903.
“Grimshaw
probably was the person who caused the most problems with this story,”
Alleyne said. “Grimshaw made up stories about things that didn’t
happen.”
Scholars
then repeated those stories, which then took on other inaccuracies,
others believed it all and, in that “Who Shot Liberty Valance” (When the legend becomes fact, print the legend)
way, became perpetuated. Documentation that suggested otherwise was
downplayed, ignored and suppressed, all in service to the legend.
Hairston’s
extensive research makes a convincing case that the truth isn’t so
simple as Grimshaw would have anyone believe and piecing all that
together is made difficult because records are lacking, Alleyne said.
The true story appears to be that neither Hall nor any of the other 14
Brothers of what would be African Lodge were made Master Masons in 1775
and Irish Military Lodge No. 441 had nothing to do with their
initiations or the foundation of African Lodge No. 1.
The Lodge
certainly sought assistance more locally. My ears perked up when I heard
Alleyne mention Hall’s connection to the Revolutionary War hero Gen.
Joseph Warren, who then was Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons in
Massachusetts. After all, I’ve long been convinced that Warren
was behind the consecration of St. Anne’s Lodge, a female-only Lodge of
Adoption in Boston, and the making of Masons in that Lodge. But that’s another paper, expected next year.
Hall
approached Warren for a warrant in March of 1775, at the same time
Grimshaw alleged the Lodge was founded with help from the Irish military
lodge. Warren’s death June 17 of that year during the battle of Bunker Hill shut Hall off from that opportunity, Alleyne said. Hall also sought out several other options, including connections in France.
African
Lodge finally made some headway toward organization through Batt, who
provided a “permit” to bury their dead and march in processions as
Freemasons. However, contrary to what Grimshaw wrote, Batt had no known
associations with Military Lodge No. 441 and appears to have been
something of a degree seller, a common thing over the centuries. Hall
likely understood the truth about Batt at the time but he continued to
seek out a way for African Lodge to be “regularized”, which happened
with its recognition by the Grand Lodge of England in 1784.
“This is the correct story,” Alleyne said.
Is Freemasonry Undergoing a Purge?
Most
Freemasons, even those with little interest in the Craft’s back story,
likely have noticed there’s a whole lot of revision going on, and that
it’s causing no small amount of discomfort.
There’s a reason for it, says one of the revisionists, John L. Hairston, whose book “Landmarks of our Fathers: A Critical Analysis of the Start and Origin of African Lodge No. 1” questions the long-accepted back story of the foundation of Prince Hall Freemasonry.
“All of this
work, all of this new history, everything being carried out right now,”
Hairston told me during a recent telephone interview. “All of this
tells me that there’s a purge of the lodge going on, that there is a
purging of Freemasonry going on.”
Purges are never comfortable.
For
generations, Freemasonic scholars had a colorful reputation for devising
comforting histories about the Craft, which taken up by later scholars
and uncritically told and retold. It seems everyone, including
non-Masons, came to be all cozy with them.
I tend to date the change to the 1980s and the release of noted historian David Stephenson’s “The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland’s Century (1590 -1710)” and the work of his doctoral student, Lisa Kahler. These early Masonic revisionists, including Margaret Jacob, Andrew Prescott, and Susan Sommers, all have one thing in common: they are not Freemasons.
Those
Brothers who have since produced their own works of revisionist history
have encountered subtle pressures to which their more academic
colleagues are not subject. After all, the old stories are so
comfortable to so many some who’d rather all of these historians not
bother. I well recall some of the ripples caused by journalist and then
Freemason Stephen Dafoe’s 2014 “Morgan: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry,”
one of the best and most accurate examinations of the murder of William
Morgan. The incident touched off the anti-Masonic period in the early
19th Century and came closing to eliminating Freemasonry from the U.S.
Dafoe rubbed
some Masons the wrong way by making the case that Morgan was killed by
Freemasons, not deported by them to Canada, a story his detractors
preferred. The problem was not that Dafoe had written something untrue;
it was that he’d written something true that went against the accepted,
preferred, and comfortable narrative.
I’ve run into similar sentiments in my works about early women Freemasons and the history of worldwide Co-Freemasonry.
It’s not that what I wrote isn’t true – it is. The problem, as I
understand it, is that this truth runs counter to the long-time accepted
narratives about both topics and disturbs the comfort of gender-based
and Co-masons alike. And, that, the discomfort should be respected.
Hairston said he encountered much the same in the lead up to his book, which was released last year. The Seattle publisher and researcher is a demitted member of Harmony Lodge No. 2, which labors under the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington and also a member of University Lodge No. 141, which labors under the Grand Lodge of Washington.
Hairston also is the Editor of the “The Quill and The Sword” Masonic blog and his work has been published in a number of Masonic publications, including Living Stones, Washington Masonic Community Monitor, and the Prince Hall Masonic Journal.
Hairston
said that when he was initiated into traditionally African American
Prince Hall Freemasonry, he was fed the usual and comfortable stories
about the origins of that branch of the Craft. That legend tells about
Bostonian caterer and leather dresser Prince Hall, a free man of color,
along with other 14 free men of color in the same city – “The Immortal
15” – who formed their own lodge after being turned away from existing
lodges.
According to
the legend, Hall and the other 14 were initiated into Freemasonry by
Irish Military Lodge No. 441, under the direction of WM Sergeant John
Batt, on March 6, 1775. By July of the following year, African Lodge was
organized under a limited permit from Batt and by 1779 thirty-three
Brothers were listed on the rolls of the Lodge. Prince Hall later
petitioned the Grand Lodge of England for a warrant or charter, which
was granted June 30th, 1784.
That story, told and retold for generations and included on a number of Prince Hall websites, has been uncritically passed on by scholars.
I won’t
spoil all of the richness in Hairston’s book, but I will say that much
of the discomfort about his work is related to the date of formation and
the assistance received in formation.
It was not
unusual in the 18th Century for Lodges to independently form on their
own and then go looking for a Grand Lodge to provide them with a charter
or warrant. In that context, African Lodge’s true origins are nothing
to be concerned about.
“Does this
truthful narrative make the immortal 15 illegitimate, no it does not,”
Hairston said. “It does mean that we have a mess to clean up but that’s
all.”
The mess is
the untruths that have been allowed to accrete around what really
happened in Masonic history. Hairston first noticed problems with the
date when he examined the primary documentation, much of it preserved by
the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and not especially difficult to get
at. He soon discovered that the authors of the legend had access to the
actual records but had chosen to write the comfortable legend instead.
That was
frustrating, Hairston stated. “I should never had to have written this
book,” he said. “This should have been written at least in the 1950s. I
had been in Freemasonry only five years when I started down this path.
This should have been written by earlier and better scholars than me.”
He did
discover that prior scholars, particularly Henry Coil and John Sherman
in their jointly written 1982 “A Documentary Account of Prince Hall and
other Black Fraternal Orders,” had written about these documents before.
However, that work had been largely ignored, which basically made it go
away. Hairston could reasonably expect his own effort would be
similarly received.
Hairston decided to share his research with scholars at The Phylaxis Society and he found them encouraging. “And they said, ‘You’ve got something here’,” he recalled.
Even with
that nod, Hairston had respect for the discomfort. He knew that there
were Brothers who wouldn’t like it, and had his doubts, which he shared
with his editor and fellow researcher Oscar Alleyne. “And I said,
‘Oscar, why am I doing this?'” Hairston recalled.
“And he said, ‘Because you have to’.”
Naturally, the work gained early support from other scholars and news reporters in the Craft. He was featured in the 7 September 2016 edition of “The Masonic Rountable” shortly after the book was published. He also was appeared in an interview by the Masonic College of the Walter F. Meier Research Lodge No. 281 in Washington and lectured at the Seattle Scottish Rite Masonic Center.
Tony Pope, a Masonic author and researcher of no little reputation and at least equally unafraid to address sensitive topics in the Craft, in this past January’s Harashim,
published by the Australian New Zealand Masonic Research Council,
called Hairston’s book “a good read for history buffs, a fine example
for potential researchers, and a must for anyone interested in the
controversy likely to arise from it. I can hardly wait for the next
volume in the series.”
However,
Pope also nodded to the paradox Hairston’s work inevitably produced. “It
must have taken considerable courage for Brother Hairston to pursue
this line of inquiry, and to publicise the result,” Pope wrote.
Pope wasn’t
the only Masonic scholar to recognize Hairston’s odd position in writing
this truth. “Brother Hairston fully understands the delicate ground he
treads, but he is a tireless and extraordinarily detailed and dedicated
researcher,” Masonic author Chris Hodapp wrote in his review of Hairston’s book.
All that
courage was required because “Landmarks of our Fathers” did discomfort
many Freemasons, Prince Hall and otherwise, including grand lodge
officers across the country. Their response, including their initial
lack of one, was understandable, Hairston said. Grand lodges are not too
concerned about history and concentrate more on maintain good
relationships with other grand lodges, running the front office and
keeping the greatest number of members comfortable and happy with their
membership, he said.
“Then, all
of a sudden, there’s this guy who hasn’t been a Freemason five years,”
Hairston said. “He comes along and writes about what really happened,
and it’s not the story they know, that they’ve got investment in. Then
it gets published and it upsets the comfortable narrative.”
First, they
ignored him, a strategy that has worked in the past. “They chose to turn
a blind eye to the findings,” Hairston said, “which is surprising,
because it wasn’t like the book was going to go away.”
When it
didn’t go away, there next came that subtle pressure, grappling for a
saving way to respond to the book and even talk of a special meeting of
Prince Hall grand lodges officers to deal with Hairston’s troublesome
findings.
Then, as
suddenly, the pressure eased up. “I heard about it back channel,”
Hairston said. “They decided that the book was great and they really
didn’t want to refute the contents, they have so much other stuff to
deal with and that, really, this wasn’t all that important.”
It seems
cooler heads prevailed, as often happens in Freemasonry. After all,
Hairston’s research in no way detracts from the story of the founding of
Prince Hall Freemasonry. Instead, it simply tells that story more
accurately and places it in its proper historical context, warts and
all. “African Lodge is talking to us today in their own voice,” Hairston
said. “And that voice will not be denied.”
His work is
part of that larger trend in Freemasonry, to rewrite the legends to
reflect more accurately what really happened, Hairston said. It’s
necessary because something is on the horizon, Freemasonry will need to
be prepared and that requires making its crooked paths straight and
leveling its rough places, he said.
“How can you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been?” Hairston asked. “You can’t.”
The
discomforted Brothers who still want their old narratives shouldn’t take
their arguments to the revisionist historians, Hairston said. “There’s
really no fighting me in all of this,” he said. “They are fighting the
Universe; they are fighting something greater than themselves that feels
this needs to be done. The Universe has committed itself to this
revolution and anything that gets in its way will be ground to dust. It
has nothing to do with me, I’m only the messenger.”
Hairston
said he doesn’t know what is coming but feels certain that the work he
is doing now, a book that questions the present segregation in
Freemasonry, has its part to play. “There are things that can no longer
go unquestioned,” he said. “In order for Freemasonry to address the
coming paradigms, the old paradigms need to be addressed.”
Lovecraft: A Dark Place to Find Light
H.P. Lovecraft and Freemasonry. Yes, I’m going there.
A
long-serving Brother in Universal Co-Masonry has been known to observe
that the stars are always where they are but can be seen only against
the dark night sky; and he points out that all light is worth seeking.
Lovecraft is some pretty dark stuff and it could be that only the most
intrepid will seek the light revealed there.
“H.P. Lovecraft, Providence and Freemasonry” is the title of The H.P. Lovecraft Archive webmaster Donovan K. Loucks’ planned paper during the Masonic Library and Museum Association’s annual meeting over the weekend of September 28 in Providence, Rhode Island.
As the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon points out on its website, Lovecraft
is best known as “a writer of weird fiction,” which is true enough. His
medium isn’t exactly horror, though it can be pretty scary. It isn’t
exactly science fiction, though it can be geeky and, at times,
intangibly technical.
However it’s
defined, Lovecraft’s work beckons to the reader’s darkest, most deeply
veiled interior places and lays bare what’s really there. If there
happens to be light there, it is worth seeking.
H.P. Lovecraft’s Childhood Home
Depending on
how “success” is defined, Lovecraft could be said to have had little of
it. Born August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, his work was
published only in pulp magazines, not much respected at the time. His
father died in the psychiatric institution of Butler Hospital in Providence a month shy of H.P.’s 8th Birthday. His mother also died in Butler in 1921.
A pale,
gaunt, brooding fellow with a piercing stare and deep, dark eyes,
Lovecraft seldom went out before nightfall, suffered what he called “Night Gaunts”
when he slept, never graduated from high school and failed a National
Guard physical. He at times went without food to pay the postage on his
voluminous private correspondence with contemporary literary
ne’er-do-wells such as Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch and Clark Ashton Smith.
Beyond his
innate ability to write and edit, Lovecraft had few marketable skills,
generally rubbed employers and co-workers the wrong way and seldom had
any so-called “regular jobs.” He died in poverty and obscurity, as do
many painfully brilliant artists, at age 46 on March 15, 1937.
His work
received little notoriety in his lifetime and a decade would pass before
it started to be recognized for its literary importance and to be
collected into posthumous volumes. In my opinion, some of his best works
include “The Outsider,“”Haunter of the Dark,” “The Rats in the Walls,” “The Alchemist” and, of course, the Cthulhu Mythos stories.
V.I.T.R.I.O.L
In my observation, Lovecraft’s work is wildly popular among some of the more intense Freemasons most interested in all that V.I.T.R.I.O.L. stuff, but the author’s own brushes
with Craft are hard to pin down. Lovecraft wasn’t a Freemason and
neither was his father. However, his maternal grandfather, who by all
accounts was the lone father figure in H.P.’s youth, the businessman
Whipple Van Buren Phillips, was in 1870 a founding member of Ionic Lodge No. 28 in Greene, Rhode Island and was reckoned to be a very active Freemason.
H.P. Lovecraft’s Grandfather: Brother Whipple Van Buren Phillips
Lovecraft’s
work stands on its own, it doesn’t have to be read as an exercise in
self-reflection but, for the Freemason willing to go there, it’s quite
an exercise. The Philosopher Graham Harman, in his 2013 “Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy” describes Lovecraft’s work as having a unique, if veiled, anti-reductionalist ontology.
“No other writer is so perplexed by the gap between objects and the
power of language to describe them, or between objects and the qualities
they possess,” Harman says.
Yes, Lovecraft was a bit of a racist and
he had other personal flaws, as do we all, but I learned long ago not
to seek perfection in any artist. The work is the thing and art never
apologizes.
I have a
preference for the dark stuff, a great appreciation for emblems of
mortality and and no real hesitance to reflect upon mortality with an
eye toward living life while there’s life to live. That, for me, is the
light worth seeking as revealed against the darkness; and why I read
Lovecraft.
Loucks’ paper isn’t the only thing going on at the Masonic Library and Museum Association’s annual conference this
year. I’ve been a member for years, and I’ve always wanted to go. I
can, however, never seem to get the highly complicated, multi-level math
to work. However, it’s a very good, if quiet, conference aimed not so
much at research but in facilitating research and applying professional
library sciences to Masonic libraries. The conference is open to all.
And with that, I’ll leave you with a bit of Lovecraft, from his 1921, “The Defence Remains Open!“:
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”
Ask Not What Masonry Can Do For You: Universal Co-Masonry’s Call for Greater Service
A call
to greater service is part of the vision for the next five years
detailed during the Honorable Order of Universal Co-Masonry’s Annual
Summer Workshop at its headquarters in Larkspur, Colorado earlier this
month.
The annual address by the Order’s Most Sovereign Grand Commander (M.S.G.C.), The Very Ills..... Bro... Magdalena I. Cumsille 33o,
announced the call to action – illustrating the Order’s unwavering
dedication to serve and assist all of Humanity. In a nod to the late
President John F. Kennedy, the M.S.G.C. inspired the assembly with the
following message:
“Ask not what Freemasonry can do for you. Ask what you can do for Freemasonry.”
As part of
the M.S.G.C.’s plan, the Institution of a Masonic Order of Service is a
vital component of the Order’s Strategic Plan for the next five years.
The details of the plan were included in a letter from the Order’s
President Matias Cumsille, issued to the Brethren of Universal
Co-Masonry during the workshop.
“It has been
a long-held sentiment of Masonry throughout the ages that the
responsibility of service does not rely on the depth of our pockets but
on the working of our hands,” Cumsille said in his letter. “The
institution of the Masonic Order of Service is being established to
serve our various communities in the physical world,” Cumsille wrote in
his letter.
Headquarters of the Honorable Order of Universal Co-Masonry in Larkspur, Colorado.
The new
service order will be available to the larger community outside of
Universal Co-Masonry to request assistance, Cumsille said. “The needs of
our communities are vast, and we are a source of giving hearts and
giving hands,” he said.
“Masters of
Lodges can work through the Masonic Order of Service to find Lodge
activities of this nature as well as individual Brothers who have a
passion for this type of service who wish to sign up on their own.
Volunteers are required who can supply the hands through which the
Masonic Order of Service will work.”
The announcement was part of a larger vision of and for the Order as it heads into the third
decade of the 21st Century, a plan for the next five years announced
during summer workshop on the campus in the small central Colorado town
August 5th – 12th. Brothers arrived
from Lodges throughout the Americas to attend the workshop, a
semi-regular tradition in the Order for more than a century.
Other
announcements during the workshop included the ongoing formation of a
Masonic College of Art and Science to provide education for seekers
throughout the world and an energy initiative for the headquarters’
campus. On the later, plans were announced to make headquarters 100%
sustainable through renewable energy installation, as an example to
other organizations to protect the environment, as well as reducing
utility costs.
Aerial View of the Headquarters of the Honorable Order of Universal Co-Masonry
Service, as a
Masonic ideal, is nothing new in the Order but external service has
been less heard of in Universal Co-Masonry since its origins in the late
19th Century, though there examples, instigated mostly by individual
lodges, can be recalled in the Order’s history.
For
instance, in 1923, a Lodge of the Order in California joined with
male-only Orders to build a facility at Berkeley University to provide a
facility for the use of children of Masons attending that state
university. Over the years, Brothers have participated in local causes,
such of food and clothing drives, have funded scholarships and
participated in other community
efforts. Most recently, individual lodges in the Order have been patrons
of the arts and provided money and hands for concerns nearest their
premises.
Headquarters of the Honorable Order of Universal Co-Masonry
The new
Masonic Order of Service will provide the means to better organize those
formerly informal and local efforts. Moreover, the new initiative will
improve ongoing efforts through a more centralized process, as well as, work with other ongoing initiatives in the Order, Cumsille said in his letter.
“As a United Federation of Lodges, we have an enormous synergy to draw from
and, as such, there is a place for every Brother in these institutions,
programs and improvements,” Cumsille’s letter stated.
Cumsille urged no Brother to “stand on the sidelines.”
“The members
who have joined in the efforts for promote the Great Work in these
areas need more Brothers to work alongside them. Those who want to see
the world we all envision made manifest, to make perfecting humanity a
reality rather than a beautiful sentiment, are asked to join in these
efforts.”
Do you think Freemasonry started in 1717? Think again.
There’s
been a roiling controversy in Freemasonry for almost a year but unless
you’re a Masonic scholar, you may not know about it.
It has to do
with the year in which modern Freemasonry, “the revival,” began.
Traditionally, that watershed year has been 1717 and the formation of
the first Grand Lodge in London. That would mean this year is the 300th
anniversary of Freemasonry in the modern era.
Now comes
Dr. Susan Mitchell Sommers, professor of history at Saint Vincent
College and General Editor of the Journal for Research into Freemasonry
and Fraternalism, and Dr. Andrew
Prescott (pictured above), FSA, FRHistS, Professor of Digital
Humanities, AHRC Theme Leader Fellow for Digital Transformations,
University of Glasgow, to tell us that isn’t the right date. We
are, Sommers and Prescott tell us, about four years off, that the actual
date is 1721.
Prescott
dropped that little tidbit during the Tercentenary Conference
Celebrating 300 Years of Freemasonry this past September at Cambridge
University. He was the last key-note speaker of that conference.
Obviously, I wasn’t there but I’ve heard Dr. Prescott caused quite a
stir when he effectively blew away the whole purpose of that conference.
Oh, to have been a mouse under the podium in that moment.
Sommers gave a version of the paper during the World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History in Paris this past May.
Prescott’s talk at the Tercentenary Conference are similar to those given during the Dr. Charles A. Sankey Lecture Series in Masonic Studies the previous June. In his talk then, Searching for the Apple Tree: What Happened in 1716?, Prescott said the difficulty with the date lays in the account by James Anderson, author and editor of the Constitutions of the Free-Masons.
Anderson
claimed that in 1716 four Masonic lodges from London met together at the
Apple Tree Tavern in Charles Street, close to the centre of Covent
Garden, and agreed to revive the annual feast. The following year, says
Anderson, on 24 June 1717, those lodge met again at the Goose and Gridiron and there elected a grand master.
“The
traditional and accepted story of the foundation of the grand lodge
comes entirely from Anderson,” Dr. Prescott said during his Sankey
lecture. “It appears for the first time in the second edition of the
Book of Constitutions, published in 1738, 20 years after the event it
describes and shortly before Anderson’s death.”
Anderson
didn’t mention this story in his 1723 edition and no other publication
mentions the event at all, despite the fascination the popular press had
for Freemasonry, Dr. Prescott said. “It comes out of the blue in 1738,”
Prescott said.
Not
everything that Anderson wrote about was undocumented, exactly, Sommers
said during her talk in Paris. “We can trace some of the sources
Anderson used to write his history and they are all problematic,” he
said.
Anderson did his best, she said. “Unfortunately, he also takes liberties when writing his history,” she said.
Which leads to one inevitable conclusion. “Without corroborating evidence, we must discard the canonical story,” Sommers said.
Sommers and
Prescott then give, at length, their reasons why 1717 isn’t the correct
date and that 1721 more likely is. One detail he points out is the 1721
Initiation of William Stukeley in London, at a tavern called “The
Salutation”, which Stukeley later said had been the first initiation in
the city in many years and that it had been complicated by the
difficulty in finding enough Freemasons in the work the ceremony. “The
claim that it had been difficult to find members to attend this lodge to
initiate Stuckeley is very surprising if Grand Lodge had been founded
four years previously in a tavern that is only two or three minutes walk
from The Salutation,” Dr. Prescott observed.
Anyone who wants to read the Sommers-Prescott paper will find it in the newly release QCC publication “Reflections on 300 Years of Freemasonry” newly published by Lewis Masonic.
Dr. Prescott’s observations has Masonic scholars, the world over, all a flutter but most Freemasons are blissfully unaware.
The good
news is that, if Sommers and Prescott are right, then we have four more
years to plan a celebration of the real 300th Anniversary.
Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries?
When I
turned that corner in the Paris Catacombs this past May, having already
crossed the stone portal into the massive ossuary and read its famous
warning, “ARRÊTE! C’EST İCİ L’EMPİRE DE LA MORT“ (“Stop! This is the Empire of the Dead”), I came into first contact with the remains of the estimated 6 and 7 million people stored there. My mind went entirely blank.
My next
thought was recollection of a conversation I had with a California
male-only Mason years ago when I still was a Fellowcraft. He was a
member of a traditional observance lodge
– still quite rare in the U.S. – that wanted to restore traditions
removed by a grand lodge that no longer wanted to scare anybody.
“Karen,” he said. “I want my skulls back.”
I come from a
Masonic tradition that never lost its skulls and other emblems of
mortality. So it was and has been difficult for me to more than pity his
poverty. Masonically, I was like some folks who scribble out a donation
to help starving children in far-off lands they themselves never expect
to visit.
In the catacombs, I came to better understand that far-off land and to more fully grok what the skulls are for:
“Stop traveler and cast an eye,
As you are now so once was I,
Prepare in time make no delay
For youth and time will pass away.”
Many of the
more esoteric Masonic writers doubt little at all that Freemasonry is a
direct descendant of the ancient mystery schools. It is the same class
of writers who will tolerate no challenge, no questions, and no
suggestions that they might be mistaken and will dismiss those who bring
those challenges, questions, and suggestions as just not being open to
the experience. I observe that the majority of their readers are quite
satisfied with what light those unchallenged assertions provide.
There are,
of course, other writers of sterner academic metal who doubt, with
justification, Freemasonry’s direct connection to the ancient mystery
schools. These prefer to recognize those ancient mystery schools as
metaphysical traditions that were harmonious with other contemporary and
so-called “mysteries” but no later than that. Auguste and Alphonse
Mariette, wrote in their “Monuments of Upper Egypt“, published in 1890, that ancient Egyptian mystery schools hinted to neophytes their own hidden spark of the divine.
“To the initiated of the sanctuary, no doubt, was reserved the knowledge of the god in the abstract, the god concealed in the unfathomable depths of his own essence. But for the less refined adoration of the people were presented the endless images of deities sculptured on the walls of temples.”
However,
even the Mariettes were not fully convinced about that. “Unfortunately,
the more one studies the Egyptian religion, the greater becomes the
doubt as to the character which must definitely be ascribed to it,” they
wrote in the following paragraph on the same page.
Many a
neophyte, in as many traditions, have mistaken the symbol for the thing.
They as often mistake similarity for proof of connection. Apples and
oranges have many points of comparison, being fruits that are roughly
round, can be peeled and grow on trees, but they are not genetically
connected. Apples and oranges do, however, remain what they are.
Fully understanding the lessons of any mystery school, regardless of its origin, means barriers must be passed. The official website of the Paris catacombs
warns that folks with heart or respiratory problems, who suffer from a
“nervous disposition” or who are young children, should not make the
visit. Clearly, one must be a fit and proper person. Neither the rash
nor fearful to apply.
Those who qualify too often face other barriers. Bringing the ancient mystery schools, such as those of Isis and at Eleusis,
into full focus can be difficult for those who see everything through
Judeo-Christian-Muslim lenses. The mystery school promises nothing about
the divine and provides no universal absolutes or pathways to heaven or
hell. They tell no one what to believe.
For those who make it past all those barriers, the
mystery school does its best to quicken a personal evolution in each
individual, to awaken in them a knowledge of themselves, and to prepare
them for the more personal lessons will spring up in their everyday
lives from places where those lessons had always been; but they’d never
noticed before. The mystery school does that, in large part, through
symbol and near-dream-imagery ritual to trigger in the neophyte a stark
recognition of who they already are, will be and where they were headed.
That’s what the skulls are for.
The idea is
that if you know where you’re headed, the end that awaits us all, then
you’ll better appreciate and actually live the life you will have and
will not be too terrified when it is over. You will have actually lived
while you could and will not be plagued in the end by regrets.
The greatest
students in those schools become wise through a series of shared
experiences but they also recognize in other students a lack of full
understanding. It doesn’t seem to matter. Even those who don’t quite get
it can still work the same ritual and still pass on the same ideas.
It’s quite possible to transmit on wisdom without understanding it.
I’m not
convinced that Freemasonry has a direct connection to those ancient
mystery schools. However, it is quite clear to me that traditional and
orthodox Freemasonry is a mystery school. Among its lessons is the idea,
which would have been familiar in those ancient mystery schools, that
man is mortal and the more enlightened should, for their own sake,
meditate upon their own personal mortality while they still possess the
vigor to do so.
Freemasonry does not monolithically teach that. There are those in the Craft who would root out “any form of esotericism” and maintain that Freemasonry “certainly does not deal in spirituality.” And that’s OK, Freemasonry is large enough even for those who don’t want those lessons.
For those
who do, the lessons remain, though there may be a struggle to even learn
them. My male-only friend and the brothers in his traditional
observance lodge did, eventually, get their skulls back after their
grand lodge decided it was all part and parcel with “pre-ritual
education.” And so it goes.
“Memento Creatoris tui in diebus juventulis . . . “
The Wisconsin Persecution
It
isn’t every day that a criminal investigator turns up at the door, any
door. When the investigator turns up and wants to see – and then
confiscates – a Masonic Lodge’s charter, that’s rarer still.
That
happened the evening of Friday, 20 August 1943, at the home of
60-year-old widow Annette Schmitt and her grown daughter, Marcella, on
North Franklin Place in Milwaukee. They were far too intimidated by the
grizzled detective from the city’s police department to object too much
when he took the charter, and them, downtown.
As with most
modern examples of persecution against Co-Freemasonry by male-only
Masons in North America, no one was physically harmed, and it largely
was words, most of them polite. The incident in no way resembled flame
wars on Internet Masonic forums and elsewhere online today. Anyone
expecting brass knuckles and drive-by shootings will be disappointed,
but we are, after all, talking about Freemasons. It simply won’t get
that ugly.
However, the
Wisconsin persecution of 1943/44, or “the Wisconsin situation” as it
was known among Co-Masons at the time, is unique in that the police, a
county district attorney, and the Wisconsin Secretary of State’s office
were involved. Persecution of Co-Masons under the color of Profane law
is, thankfully, quite rare. This is how one of those incidents happened.
It began a
few weeks earlier when the Brothers of Lodge Amen-Ra No. 584, who’d been
meeting less formally in Milwaukee for a while, decided they’d grown
numerous enough to justify meeting in an actual lodge setting. Annette
Schmitt, Amen-Ra’s Senior Warden, and her daughter Marcella, Amen-Ra’s
Secretary and coordinator for a local vocational school, were designated
to find a good place. They shopped around and soon found a space in the
Milwaukee Odd Fellows Temple.
The room had
raised platforms and, though it was more square than oblong, it was
generally arranged enough to be adapted for a meeting of Freemasons and
“the carrying out of the ceremonial in a dignified and beautiful
manner.” That is how North American Co-Freemasonry’s Grand Treasurer and
District Deputy of the Great Lakes District, Sidney Cook, described it.[1] The Brothers had to have been impressed by the floor: terrazzo stone in concrete.
Cook gave
formal approval of the room and suggested the Brothers of Amen-Ra secure
a two-year lease. The Odd Fellows rental agent accepted a check for the
first month’s rent and all seemed to be arranged, nothing appeared
amiss.
Perhaps the
first clue should have been comments by the rental agent, a “Miss
Purdy,” who was a member of the Order of Eastern Star in Wisconsin. It
also turned out that the Chairman of the Odd Fellows Board was a past
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin.
It isn’t clear how trouble began but someone was interested in making it.
A few days
after arranging for the lease, Miss Purdy let Annette Schmitt know that
they needed more details about the nature of the work. Annette Schmitt
gave Purdy a brochure about Co-Freemasonry, the type of brochure that
Co-Masons are known to carry around. Shortly after that, Annette Schmitt
said she got a call from a “Mr. Rumple” from the Better Business Bureau
who wanted her to come see him. “He is also a Mason,” Annette Schmitt
said.[2]
A week after that, on 19 August, William F. Weiler, Past Grand Master and Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin[3] arrived unannounced at the Schmitt home.
“During the
conversation, he informed us that we were infringing upon the rights of
their Order, that we were a spurious and clandestine organization, that
we could not call our organization Masonry, and that we could not work
under the lodge system,” Annette Schmitt said in her subsequent letter
to Cook. Weiler also named a Wisconsin statute he said Amen-Ra was
violating but didn’t provide a copy.
Weiler
seemed to think that was that, though it’s hard to imagine why he
thought saying it made it all so. Perhaps he felt emboldened by the
Schmitt’s response, which was to be thoroughly gobsmacked and to let him
know that speaking for their Order, let alone all of Co-Freemasonry,
was well above their pay grade. Which, as a Freemason, Past Grand Master
and a current Grand Secretary, he should have known.
Perhaps it
suddenly occurred to him. Weiler then demanded a meeting between “our
Grand Officers,” and told the Schmitts he could set up a meeting with
the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin Grand Master Louis D. Potter.
For their
part, the Schmitts assumed Weiler wanted to set up that meeting between
and their own Order’s Grand Commander, Edith Armour, and they wrote that
same day to Cook, following protocol, to see what could be arranged.
However, this seems not to have been the case. The male-only Freemasons
involved in this episode, as we’ll see, largely ignored Armour and,
instead, continued to harass the Schmitts and developed a bit of a
fixation on Cook.
Granted,
Cook was a Past Grand Senior Warden in Co-Freemasonry and was then Grand
Treasurer, but he certainly wasn’t the highest ranking Co-Mason in
North America. He also appears to have worked very hard to avoid even
the appearance of usurping Armour’s Masonic authority in North America,
which explains at least part of the communications issues that were
coming.
The
Schmitts, possibly to get Weiler out of their home, apparently at least
mentioned Cook to Weiler. They may have even provided Cook’s address in
Wheaton, Illinois, because Weiler fired off a letter to Cook postmarked
8:30 p.m. the same day. “I have information that your organization,
under the name ‘Co-Masonry’ is entering Wisconsin with the intention of
establishing lodges or local units,” his letter to Cook said. Weiler
asked for pamphlets explaining Co-Freemasonry, as well as copies of the
Order’s bylaws, petitions for membership, “and other literature that may
be available.” He stated, “it is quite imperative that we have this
information at once.”
Cook, when
he received Weiler’s letter, immediately complied, sending out the
requested literature. He also wrote the Amen-Ra’s Master and the Order’s
future Grand Commander, Helen Wycherley, about what was going on. Given
the speed at which things were moving, Wycherley may not yet have heard
what was going on.
In any case,
Cook was more perplexed than concerned. “I suppose we will talk this
all over at the end of the week,” he said in his next letter to Armour.
“You have had experiences just like this before and know exactly what
should be done about them.”
Meanwhile,
as Weiler’s and Schmitt’s snail mail inched their way to Cook. Back on
August 20th, at the Schmitts home that night, there was a knock at the
door.
“Events took
shape rapidly, and the police were on our trail even before we had the
opportunity to contact you,” Annette Schmitt said in her letter to Cook
the following day. “We told Mr. Weiler that we were going to write you
immediately.”
Either
“immediately” had not been good enough for Weiler or the fellow at the
door was acting on his own. The latter seems unlikely but the remaining
record doesn’t make it entirely clear.
If he wasn’t
acting on his own, Detective Lt. Joseph A. Schalla, then a 32° Mason
under the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, seems an interesting choice to send
after the Schmitts on the evening 20 August 1943. Then 43, he was a
World War I veteran severely wounded in action in December of 1918[4]
and became a police officer in 1928, joining the Old North Milwaukee
Police Department. He established his law enforcement cred working in
the department’s hold up and burglary squad. He soon moved on to dealing
with more hardened criminals, thieves, rapists and murderers, as
attested by dozens of news clippings remaining from the period.
In 1952,
Schalla would be reprimanded by his superiors for threatening a local
news reporter who wanted to publish a story about a local politician
that Schalla did not want published.[5] Whatever else could be said about him, Schalla was no one to cross.
The widow
Schmitt and her daughter clearly found him intimidating. “We showed him
the Charter,” Annette Schmitt said in her next letter to Cook. The
Schmitts might have used Amen-Ra’s charter as something of a shield,and
it clearly got the police detective’s attention. Schalla also wanted to
know how many members the Order had, the amount expected in dues,
initiation fees and other information, not all of which the Schmitts
could have told him. They recommended Schalla get information from
higher ranking Brothers than themselves.
Not getting
all his questions answered, Schalla took the Schmitts and Amen-Ra’s
charter to the police department. It isn’t certain the Schmitts actually
were arrested but it is clear they didn’t feel they could refuse to go.
There they were introduced to another male-only Freemason, Chief of Police Joseph Kluchesky[6],
who took a good look at the charter but said he didn’t have time to
read the brochures on Co-Freemasonry that the Schmitts offered.
The police
apparently thought Amen-Ra was a swindling operation, which could
possibly explain, more than their Masonic ties, why the two officers had
taken an interested. “It was evident that when the complaint was made
to the Police Department, it was on that of soliciting, for that seemed
to be the basis upon which the investigation was made,” Annette Schmitt
said in her letter to Cook.
The police
made a photostat copy of the charter but backed down shortly after
closely examining it. Either Schalla or Kluchesky commented: “Well, we
can’t stop you. Whoever drew up that charter knew what they were doing.[7]” The Milwaukee police exit the story at this point.
Finding
themselves free to go, the Schmitts went to a Western Union office and
sent a telegram to Cook, letting him know to expect another snail mail
to follow-up on the one already on its way. A flurry of mail, much of it
crossing enroute, followed but everyone seemed to be caught up by the
middle of the following week, during which Armour sent a four-page
letter to Weiler describing Co-Freemasonry’s long history in North
American and the larger world and describing other cases in which
male-only Masons tried to interfere with Co-Freemasonry and failed.
If Weiler
answered that letter, there’s no evidence of it and quite a few
references in what record does remain suggests that Armour never
received a reply.
Despite the
police involvement, Cook still was not very alarmed. “Bro. Cook feels
that there is no cause for alarm and that the matter will be
straightened out satisfactorily in due course,” Ann Werth, a member
Amen-Ra Lodge then in Wheaton, wrote to Annette Schmitt on 23 August. “I
can imagine that you might have been a bit surprise to have the police
visit you!”
Cook’s own advice to the Schmitts, as well as other Amen-Ra members was:
Should
you be questioned further, just give such information as seems
pertinent to the case and necessary, using your own good judgment in the
matter, as you have been doing.
He also
stalled for time, telling the male-only Masons who wanted to talk to him
that it would have to wait until the middle of September[8].
While his tone in that letter was soothing enough, Cook was more firm in his next letter to Weiler. Cook wrote:
I
question very much whether the establishment of a lodge of The American
Federation of Human Rights in the city of Milwaukee would in any way
come within the jurisdiction of or conflict with the activities of
organizations already established there. However, if you will be good
enough to give me full data as to the basis of your questioning, I shall
be glad to cooperate in arriving at an understanding.
If Weiler answered that letter, the location of the reply currently is unknown.
Wycherley
wrote to Cook on 31 August, wondering whether Amen-Ra should proceed
with its next scheduled meeting on 12 September. “It seems to me that to
hold a meeting while the legality is in question would get us in more
trouble,” Wycherley wrote. “And since it is little over a week till
[sic] the scheduled meeting, I ought to do something at once if it is to
be postponed.”
Cook replied that Amen-Ra should tough it out, still speaking with reassurance that little was likely to happen.
Cook also
contacted the Wisconsin Secretary of State’s office asking about the
statute Weiler claimed existed and that the Milwaukee Co-Masons
allegedly were violating. Cook also asked if there were any laws in the
state pertaining to meetings by small groups of men and women for study
and ceremony.
Wisconsin Secretary of State, and former Governor, Fred R. Zimmerman replied the following day that he knew of none.
It was during this time that Armour, her first letter apparently ignored, wrote another letter to Weiler. Armour wrote:
Since
writing you on August 23, in reply to your inquiry of August 20
regarding the Co-Masonic Order, it has been brought to my attention that
you have made claims to our members in Milwaukee as to the prerogatives
of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, attempting to interfere with their
legitimate activities, and have made unwarranted statements as to the
character of our organization.
Armour again
provided a brief history of Co-Freemasonry in North America and pointed
out that just because the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin didn’t – as it
doesn’t today – recognize Co-Freemasonry doesn’t mean Co-Masons aren’t
Freemasons and certainly doesn’t negate the legal rights of Co-Masons
in Wisconsin. She again pointed to similar cases over the previous half
century in which male-only Masons tried to interfere with
Co-Freemasonry in North America and failed, including a 1907 incident in
which male-only Masons maneuvered the arrest of two Co-masons. In that
case, the male-only Masons’ efforts failed in the courts, setting some
interesting precedents.
The entire effort in Wisconsin was equally pointless, Armour wrote:
Our
organization could not possibly harm or damage the Grand Lodge of
Wisconsin. Our influence is neither demoralizing nor contaminating. We
teach and practice good citizenship. We prohibit soliciting members and
we do not permit applicants to join under the impression that they will
gain any social prestige or commercial advantages. On the contrary, they
are told of the hardship and disadvantages of pioneer work.
Male-only
Masons who’ve tried to affiliate with Co-Masonic Lodges have been turned
away, “explaining our situation and telling these applicants to remain
in their own Lodges,” Armour wrote.
Armour’s 4 September letter, like her first letter, apparently was ignored.
Meanwhile,
the check for the lodge’s first month rent for the room that the Odd
Fellows decided the Co-Masons couldn’t use had been cashed and there was
no getting those funds back. “Looks like we are just out that amount,”
Wycherley wrote to Cook on 8 September.
There was no
further word that week from the male-only Masons and the Milwaukee
Co-Masons seem to have settled down as their 12 September meeting date
approached. The unpleasantness appeared to have blow over.
It hadn’t.
The Schmitts
received a letter, postmarked on 10 September, from the office of
Milwaukee County District Attorney James J. Kerwin, ordering them to a
meeting at 3 p.m. Thursday, 16 September, “without fail” with Second
Deputy District Attorney Charles J. Kersten. It was at this time that
Co-Masons found out what Wisconsin statute Weiler had been talking about
all along.
Wisconsin
statute 343.251, long since repealed, made it illegal to “willfully wear
the insignia, rosette, or badge or any imitation thereof” of various
groups and orders, including “Free Masons [sic].” However, the statute
did not define who “Free Masons” are, a topic any Masonic grand officer
would be unwise to let Profane courts sort out.
That
notwithstanding, the Schmitts were summoned to the District Attorney’s
office, which prompted Werth to write a hasty note to Cook alerting him
to the latest development. The Schmitts, Werth said, had had about as
much of the Wisconsin Situation as they could stand and “they are quite
concerned” about being summoned to the district attorney’s office.
Marcella
Schmitt called the district attorney’s office in an attempt to put off
the appointment so that someone else – anyone else – could represent the
Order. It was during that call that Marcella Schmitt received some
stunning news. “She said that they [Marcella Schmitt and her mother] had
been told they should not hold any meetings and she didn’t know what
they should do about the one scheduled for Sunday – tomorrow,” Werth
wrote to Cook.
Werth then
asked a question that had gone unasked for weeks: Why were the male-only
Masons of Wisconsin and Profane law enforcement harassing a widow and
her daughter who had no authority to speak for the Order? “Isn’t there
some way that Marcella and her mother can get the authorities to work
through the Grand Officers instead of riding them about it?” Werth asked
in her note. “Marcella was afraid that if they held the meeting
tomorrow someone would interrupt them with a search warrant.”
While the
record remains incomplete, it seems the Brothers of Amen-Ra did quietly
meet in a location other than the Odd Fellows Hall on 12 September 1943
without “someone” showing up “with a search warrant.” Meeting elsewhere
might be, at least in part, why that didn’t happen. It could also be
that the proponents of this legal action didn’t want to go that far.
When
the Schmitts, with great trepidation, turned up for the demanded
appointment at the county’s district attorney’s office, they found the
deputy district attorney had flaked out on them. The Schmitts were told
the deputy district attorney was “in court on an important case.”
“We called
again today and the operator said that the case would not be closed
before Saturday of this week, which means that we might be able to see
him the early part of next week,” Marcella Schmitt wrote to Cook on 23
September, 1943.
The Brothers
of Amen-Ra also received a veiled threat from “one of the
investigators” to hold no more meetings because “it would be best not to
aggravate the situation just at this time.”[9]
The
County Deputy District Attorney, Kersten, didn’t become available to
meet with the Schmitts until 29 September, almost two weeks after the
date he’s originally demanded, and even that meeting was “for a very
short time,” Marcella Schmitt said in her letter to Cook the same day.
Kersten for the first time made formal what Milwaukee Co-Masons had been
scrambling to find out on their own, that a complaint had been made
against them by the Weiler as Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin
and Potter, its Grand Master.
Schmitt
noted that Kersten said he wasn’t a Freemason, “was not well-informed on
the Masonic Order” and observed that he had trouble remembering the
Wisconsin Grand Master’s name.
It
was at this point that it was revealed Kersten had been present back in
August when Detective Shalla had hauled the Schmitts and the Amen-Ra’s
charter to the police department and that Kersten had examined the
charter at that time.
That seems
to have been all that came out of the 29 September meeting with Kersten
as Kersten decided then he would rather “the grand officers” be
present. Perhaps it occurred to him, as it seemed to not be occurring to
others, that the Schmitts were not qualified to speak for all of North
American Co-Freemasonry, but it also seems that no one from the Grand
Lodge of Wisconsin was at the meeting either. So, he pointedly
instructed the Schmitts to contact Cook to see when he could be
available for a meeting, which is odd because Cook still wasn’t a high
ranking grand officer. Armour, again, was ignored.
Kersten also declined a copy of Armour’s letter to Weiler.
Though he
wasn’t present, Cook might have noticed something in Kersten’s
realization about the Schmitts. There might be something to gain should
Kersten observe the male-only Masons were acting like bullies in their
treatment of the Schmitts.
Or, perhaps, Cook just wanted little as possible to do with “the Wisconsin Situation.”
For
whatever reason, Cook suddenly was more interested in the Schmitts
taking the lead on behalf of their Lodge and the Order. In his 1 October
letter to Marcella Schmitt, Cook said he would be too busy to make an
appointment with Kersten. Cook wrote:
I
suggest, therefore, that you proceed, having no fear whatever of the
outcome. One suggestion that I would make to you is that you make for
yourself another copy of the Ills. Bro. Armour’s[10] letter to Mr. Weiler, so that if you hand one to Mr. Kersten you will still have one to use in the discussion.
Miss
Armour’s letter answers very satisfactorily the suggestion of ‘borrowed
insignia, titles, etc.’ – borrowed from whom and when? All of these
were regularly conferred at the inception of the Order, handed down from
the same sources as those from which Mr. Weiler’s organization claims
descent and authority.
It’s
easy to imagine what the timid and stressed Schmitts thought of that.
Probably Cook imagined it, too, which might be why he sent instructions
to Wycherley to help steel Amen-Ra’s Secretary and Senior Warden. He
also signaled to Wycherley that it was time to be far less passive.
“I was
willing that we should temporarily delay our activities to give an
opportunity for inquiry, but Mr. Weiler has not seen fit to reply to the
letter [from Armour] of full information given to him, and a good deal
of time has passed,” Cook wrote. “I therefore recommend that we proceed
with our work and let the inquiry take its course.”
In other words, the October meeting of Amen-Ra should go ahead as planned.
Meanwhile,
Armour apparently had a chance to speak with real legal counsel on the
matter, which made her even more confident that the Order would prevail
in this case as they had in all others previous. “It would seem they do
not have a leg to stand on in the matter of Masonic emblems and no
legal-minded committee of enquiry could uphold their claim to the
exclusive right to such emblems,” Armour said in her 5 October letter to
Cook.[11]
The
follow-up meeting with Kersten occurred on 6 October lasted about two
hours and followed a one-hour meeting between the Schmitts and Weiler.
Potter did not attend, which means Kersten didn’t get the grand officers
he’d asked for. Both meetings apparently took place in Kersten’s
office, which suggests he was interested in the three Freemasons coming
to some sort of amicable, not to mention Masonic, agreement.
Kersten
challenged the Schmitts to prove that the origins of Co-Freemasonry are
the same as those claimed by the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin. The Schmitts,
naturally, had no trouble documenting that and again offered up a copy
of Armour’s long, detailed letter.
In her
letter to Cook a few days later, Marcella Schmitt reported that Kersten
seemed to at times to favor the male-only Masons of Wisconsin’s and, at
times, the Co-Masons. She also said that Weiler claimed that
Co-Freemasonry was being “thoroughly investigated” by the Northern
Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite. Marcella recalled:
He said
that the literature he had received proved nothing to him as to our
validity and constantly he insisted that we were not entitled to use
terminology. When we pointed out that any further questions should
rightly be directed to the Very Ills.·.·. Bro.·. Armour, Mr. Weiler said
that he would have the courtesy to answer her letter of September 5.
That sudden
willingness on Weiler’s part to at least acknowledge a communication
from the Grand Commander of North American Co-Freemasonry was an
important concession and indicates he realized his position was
crumbling. His next move was aimed at getting, likewise, at least one
concession from the Co-Masons. Marcella Schmitt recalled in the same
letter to Cook:
After we
dispersed, Mr. Weiler walked out of the building with us. Although
previously he spoke of the many attorneys in his Order, he said that he
did not want to prosecute us, that it would be bad if Masonry were to be
tried in the courts for too much about it would have to be revealed,
that if we proved ourselves regular that would be a deciding factor, but
we could not do so because of irregularity at its very inception –
admitting women.
The Schmitts certainly had heard that canard before. Timid though they were, they could not have been impressed.
Weiler then
hopped on a suggestion he and Kersten apparently made during the
meeting, “that we retain the principles of our Order but change the
titles, insignia, etc. – this was their solution,” Marcella Schmitt wrote.
That was not
going to happen anymore than the Grand Lodge was going to retain the
principles of their Order but change the titles, insignia, etc. It was
grasping for straws that Co-Masons were never going to offer.
The Schmitts
walked away from the meeting with a dubious victory: “permission” from
Kersten that the meetings of Amen-Ra could continue. Kersten also,
finally, accepted that extra copy of Armour’s letter that Cook had the
Schmitts take with them.
Neither side
got everything that they wanted but the rights Co-Masons in Milwaukee
had been recognized and preserved. In his letter to Armour on 18
October, Cook said the entire storm might blow over if “the Masons will
just quite down.”
Amen-Ra met
in October and November without issue and almost another month passed
with no update from anyone, including Kersten. Marcella Schmitt wrote to
the Deputy District Attorney on 13 December seeking his “assurances
that we will encounter no further difficulties.”
The Schmitts
received no reply from Kersten and, with Cook’s nod, decided to try
again to rent the Odd Fellows Hall for future meetings. However, the
rental agent for the hall informed the Schmitts that “the case has not
been dropped” and the hall, for which the Co-Masons had already paid
still would be denied them.[12]
That didn’t
last. There is a gap in the remaining record, we can’t be sure what
happened but the Milwaukee Co-Masons were eventually allowed to rent the
Odd Fellows Hall for their meeting, starting in February of 1944[13].
Part of
Cook’s remarks to the Brothers of Amen-Ra at their January meeting,
which he attended, remain. Cook said in his 2 February 1944 letter to
Armour:
I
reminded them that in a sense they had run up against opposition and
resentment not unlike that confronting the founders of the Order who
sought to promote the interests and place of women in the affairs of
Masonry and the world. That is was in fact the same intolerance and sex
discrimination that was rooted in the attitude of opposition that had
temporarily stood in their way in their efforts to establish themselves
in a lodge hall. That they were to be congratulated upon having
overcome the difficulty thus far, but that they should continue a
vigorous fight for their rights as citizens and as Masons, if such were
necessary, for they must continue to emulate the pioneers who sought to
establish human freedom without distinction
As for Lodge Amen-Ra No. 584, it continues to labor in Milwaukee.
[1]
See Cook’s 2 February letter to Edith Armour, then Grand Commander of
North American Co-Freemasonry. Unless otherwise noted, all documents
cited in this paper are preserved in the archives of the Honorable Order of Universal Freemasonry, the American Federation of Human Rights
[2] See Annette Schmitt’s 20 August 1943 letter to Cook.
[3]
For Weiler’s Masonic credentials, see page 138 of “Official Proceedings
of the Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of Wisconsin, 2008”,
available online here.
[4] Chicago Daily Tribune 10 December 1918 page 14 and his record with Milwaukee County Chaper of War Mothers of America, available online here.
[5] See editorial page of 9 September 1952 Waukesha Daily Freeman.
[6]
He was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason 12 December, 1921
in Henry L. Palmer Lodge No. 301, according to the October 2010 edition
of Templegram, a publication of the Northwest Masonic Center in
Wauwotosa, Wisconsin, available online here. In the remaining record, his name sometimes is spelled “Kluchevsky” but Kluchesky appears to be the correct spelling.
[7]
The comment is referred to in Wycherley’s 8 September letter to Cook,
which does not specify which police officer made the remark.
[8] Annette Schmitt’s letter to Ann Werth 23 August 1943.
[9] Armour’s 26 September 1943 letter to Cook.
[10]
“The Very Illustrious Bro” would have been correct, which proves that
even the most experienced Freemason doesn’t always bother with minutia.
[11]
This letter seems to no longer exist or at least it has not yet turned
up in the archives in Larkspur. The archive does include an excerpt from
that letter, which includes this reference.
[12] See 10 January 1944 letter of Odd Fellows Temple Renting Agent to Annette Schmitt.
[13] See cook’s 2 February 1944 letter to Armour.
2017 World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History (WCFFH)
More
international Masonic conferences should start with a round table of the
world’s best and brightest scholars of the craft talking. Just talking.
Shop, mostly.
Which is how the World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France kicked
off in May, with what was billed as a “pre-conference workshop.”
Several dozen scholars of the Craft met around a huge table in a meeting
room in the Grand Orient de France headquarters in Rue Cadet in Paris with GOdF Library, Archives and Museum Director Pierre Mollier heading it all up.
It was an
afternoon of something that doesn’t happen very much: scholars of
Freemasonry talking across borders. In fact, this could well have been
the first time it has happened with so many scholars representing so
many parts of the world. More usually, scholars of the Craft concentrate
on studies within their own language, often only within their own
countries and their resulting work is narrow, as if other studies in
other languages and countries don’t exist at all.
“We talk about Freemasonry,” said María Eugenia Vázquez Semadeni, who later in the conference participated in panels and chaired one. “We should be talking about Freemasonries.”
That nod
toward the independent and yet concurrent evolution of Freemasonry on
different continents and in different countries was in the background as
the conference considered it’s topic, which was the influence of Andrew
Michael Ramsay, commonly referred to as the “Chevalier Ramsay.” If you’re a Freemason and you don’t know who he is, chances are good you don’t live in France.
“He had a
profound influence,” Paul Rich, who along with Mollier was one of he
WCFFH conference chairs and is president of the Policy Studies
Organization Westphalia Press, said during the round table discussion.
However, the
influence Ramsey had was more deeply felt in France, where Ramsey’s
work helped create a Freemasonry more romantic and less dogmatic than
that which developed in English-speaking parts of the world, Rich
conceded. “He has long been unreported upon in America,” Rich said.
However, few
in those Freemasonries are schooled well enough about scholarship being
done in other parts of the world to even notice that divergence. Which
means English-speaking Masonic scholars especially are missing quite a
lot, folks at the roundtable seemed to agree. “The finest research being
done today is being done in France,” said UCLA’s Margaret Jacob, another Masonic scholar of great note who participated in the conference.
So far as
that went, the message that came out of the round table discussion could
have been a repeat of the call issued the previous weekend in Toulon
from the International Meeting of Masonic Research Lodges, the ICOM: Let there be greater international cooperation in Freemasonic scholarship.
However, the
round table discussion just couldn’t end with that conclusion. Instead,
the conversation went off in an odd direction. Perhaps it was out of
respect for our hosts or perhaps it was because, well, Paris. It was
less about international cooperation between Masonic scholars and more
about how French Masonic scholarship can save the Masonic scholarly
world.
It was one
of a number of examples that illustrates how disjointed parts of the
rest of the conference became. While the better-organized ICOM was able
take the message of dozens of scholars from across the world and develop
one single call to action, the WCFFH really didn’t. Of course, there’s
no reason why it had to.
Paul Rich and Susan Sommers Photo Credit: Olimpia Sandoval
Some of the heavier hitters had not yet arrived the on the day of the round table. Susan Mitchell Sommers arrived the following day and delivered one of the highlights of the WCFFH, a version of the paper she developed with Andrew Prescott, “Searching for the Apple Tree: What Happened in 1716?”
In that paper, Sommers and Prescott present their evidence that
questions the traditional 1717 origin date for modern Freemasonry,
making a good case that the real date probably was closer to 1721.
Another
important panel during the conference examined the current state of
women in Freemasonry in Europe and the United States, chaired by Drake University’s Natalie Bayer. This panel simply would not have happened, even in France, ten years ago.
While
touching on topics such as comparing women and Freemasonry in 18th
Century France, England, and Germany, the panel really lit up Cécile Révauger of Université Bordeaux Montaigne gave a very good break down of how the Grand Orient de France decided to allow its lodges to determine whether to accept women, now more than eight years ago.
That was
quite a change for an Orient that once explicitly barred women from
membership and may indicate how other male-only Masonic supreme bodies
could relax its belligerence against other bodies that do accept women,
Révauger said.
“It seems
that more and more grand lodges are less willing to hold dogmatic
views,” she said. “And more and more of them are willing to allow for
inclusion and tolerance.”
I think that
piece of hope is as good as any to take away from the WCFFH. If no
unified call for action came out of the conference, it certainly was a
good opportunity for many of the greatest Masonic scholars in the world
to come together and pause long enough to review the history of the
Freemasonry as they currently are researching it. “And 2017 is an
appropriate time to review how that history has been received,” Jacob
said near the conclusion of the round table discussion.
Another
opportunity for such a pause is scheduled for May 17-18 in 2018 when a
sort of mini-WCFFH is planned at the Historic Whittemore House in
Washington D.C. The topic of that conference will be “Not Men Only:
Sisters, Sororities, and Ritualistic Societies.” I will blog more about
then when I know more about that.
Success and the Crafty Freemason
The Crafty Freemason
in Durham, a city in northeast England, gets orders from around the
world and is thriving as a real shop in a market that now is dominated
by online sellers.
“What
makes my business stand out from other regalia businesses is that it is
local,” said owner and Freemason Susan Blackett. “People can call in
and view products before purchase. I can make things bespoke.”
It’s
that personal touch that Blackett says makers her business, which had
an open day in March, a standout. Located at 41 Quebec Street, Langley
Park, in Durham, The Crafty Freemason offers handmade Masonic products, regalia, accessories and hand-crafted items.
Blackett
said the business began when she became a Freemason. She was initiated
in October of 2013 in Lodge City of Durham No. 105, which labors under
the Order of Women Freemasons. “I was passed and raised by April 2014 and this has been very much instrumental in forming my business idea,” Blackett said.
More recently, Blackett has received the Mark, Royal Ark Mariner and ‘Chapter’ Royal Arch, the latter on Feb. 22.
Already
a skilled embroiderer and fabric artist, it was natural that the
symbols of Freemasonry began to appear in her art, particularly after
she became a Master Mason. In April of 2015, she made a cushion bearing
the square and compasses for herself and posted photos to a Masonic
group active on Facebook. The response was overwhelming, she said.
“I
received a multitude of orders and lots of encouragement to develop
this into a business,” Blackett recalled. “I attended a small business
course and then set myself up as a sole trader making an array of
Masonic related hand crafted items.” The Crafty Freemason opened for
business that following August.
That was the birth of The Crafty Freemason,
which started life in a small room of Blackett’s home. It was not an
easy market to break into and regalia sellers aren’t generally
succeeding in brick and mortar shops anymore. Toye & Co. had closed its own shop on London’s Great Queen Street, across from Freemasons Hall, in January of that year.
It
was her peculiar skill set in art, ease with her clientele and
ferreting out merchandise that has helped her succeed in a difficult
market, Blackett said. “As my business progressed rapidly, I listened to
my customers and it is they who re-defined the structure and purpose of
the business through the requests they made, i.e. for ties, gloves,
regalia and all manner of Masonic necessities,” she said. “I sourced
items, found suppliers who would offer me quality items to retail and my
work space advanced to a larger room in my house.”
When
her entire house was taken up in the venture, word of The Craft
Freemason spread outside the northeast of England and large orders
starting coming in from Israel and Kenya, Blackett said she “realized I
had to professionalize my business.”
“I
likened it to a plant in a pot,” she said. “It can only grow so far in a
certain sized pot if you want it to become bigger you have to plant it
in a larger pot.”
The
larger pot turned out to be the shop in Durham but there may yet be a
need for an even larger pot. “I am gradually building up my products in
variety and number to cover all Masonic orders although I’m not quite
there yet,” Blackett said.
Photo: Susan Blackett with one of her displays at her shop, The Crafty Freemason, in Durham a city in northeast England.
August in Athens: Summer International Masonic Workshop in Greece
If the
traveling Craftsman with an eye toward making an advancement in Masonic
Knowledge was spoiled for choice with multiple conferences this past
spring, another is coming in August.
The third Summer International Masonic Workshop,
scheduled from the 23rd to the 27th of August in Athens, is being
billed as “a unique opportunity for Freemasons around the world, as well
as for anyone interested in Freemasonry, and their families to meet,
get acquainted and discuss options and opinions on Freemasonry, while
they enjoy a summer break next to an idyllic beach.”
The stated
aim of the workshop is “to provide an overview of the most recent topics
concerning the Masonic Fraternity, such as the role of Freemasonry in
the 21st century, regularity, recognition and fraternal relations,
Masonic research etc.”
Organizers
are trying to make it very clear that the workshop is not affiliated to
any masonic or academic body, is not in any way a tyled event and that
there won’t be any associated tyled meetings. Those points are very
important to some Freemasons.
The workshop in Greece follows similar conferences in May. There was the International Meeting of European Masonic Lodges in Toulon, the World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris and the United Grand Lodge of England’s Tercentenary gathering in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The four gatherings are making 2017 one of the most conference-dense in Masonic academic study.
The call for papers at the Greek conference ended May 31 and six guest speakers have been announced.
Susan Mitchell Sommers (Featured
Image): Saint Vincent College Professor and General Editor of the
Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism who, with Andrew
Prescott, recently released the so-called “paper heard round the
world.” That paper challenges the 1717 Freemason
genesis date, maintaining the actual date probably is about four years
later. Her paper’s topic is “James Anderson and the Myth of 1717.”
David Harrison
David Harrison:
Masonic historian and archaeologist based in the UK and the author
ofeight books on the history of Freemasonry, his work has appeared in a
variety and magazines. These include Philalethes Magazine, Freemasonry Today, MQ Magazine, The Square, Knight Templar Magazine, Heredom, and New Dawn Magazine. Harrison has also appeared in television and radio spots talking about Freemasonry. His paper’s topic will be “Byron, Freemasonry and the Carbonari.”
Remzi Sanver
Remzi Sanver: A Freemason born in Istanbul, he is senior researcher at the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS) whose best known research is about “Game Theory” and “Collective Decision Making Theory.”
He also has been on the editorial board of various international
scientific journals and the administrative board of scientific
societies. His paper’s topic will be “Sufism at the Crossroad of Two
Traditions: Thoughts on Initiation and Islam.”
Robert Bashford
Robert Bashford: Masonic Researcher and well-known in Masonic conferences since he presented
his first paper in 1984, his work on behalf of Irish Lodge of Research
No 200 I.C. was acknowledged in 2009 with the presentation of the Lodge
of Research Jewel of Merit. His more recent appearances were at the
International Meeting of European Masonic Lodges in May, Lodge Hope of
Kurrachee and the Manchester Association of Masonic Research. His
paper’s topic will be “The origins of the Grand Council of Knight Masons
in the year 2553 of Knight Masonry.”
Philippa Faulks
Philippa Faulks: Author, ghostwriter, editor and journalist, her first book, “Masonic Magician: the Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and his Egyptian Rite“, co-authored with Robert
L. D. Cooper, included the first full English translation of, and
commentary on, Cagliostro’s Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry. Her paper’s
topic will be “Count Cagliostro’s Egyptian Right of Freemasonry product
of a miracle worker or man of straw?”
Valdis Pirags
Valdis Pirags: Freemason, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Latvia and the Head of the Clinic of Internal Medicine at the Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital in
Riga. He is a recipient of the Karl Oberdisse Award and the
Distinguished Research Award from the Kuwait Foundation for the
Advancement of Sciences. More recently, he has been working on
epidemiology of diabetes mellitus in Latvia and creation of the Genome
Database of the Latvian Population. His paper’s topic will be
“Freemasonry as a Method of Attaining Enlightenment.”
Registration is required. Cost for the event ranges
between 500 and 1,000 Euros, depending on the package selected. The
costs includes accommodation in a four-star hotel on the Athenian coast.
The Bond of Friendship: Brother Nellie McCool and Brother Ursula Monroe
Friendships
often are forged in Masonry but very few are as strong and long-lasting
as that of Ursula Monroe and Nellie McCool, both Brothers of the 33rd
Degree and members of the Supreme Council of the Honorable Order of
Universal Co-Masonry. “We met in a book store in Colorado Springs,”
Monroe recalled during a recent joint interview.
Their
friendship now is in its fifth decade. The two, pictured above
with McCool on the left and with Bro. Olimpia Sandoval in the
center, have remained close since they regularly attend Lodge and
various Masonic functions together. They also live across the hall from
each other in separate apartments in the same building in Castle Rock,
Colorado, very near the Order’s headquarters in Larkspur.
Ursula Monroe in 1943
“Friendships in Freemasonry are some of the strongest you will find,” McCool said.
Monroe was
born on June 28th, 1919 in Berlin, Germany. She earned her degree in
Philosophy and became a college professor. Unfortunately, she, as did
many, suffered greatly during World War II.
McCool was
born January 25th, 1922 in Lahunta, Oklahoma, and she grew up in Beaver,
Oklahoma and Colorado Springs, Colorado with her older brother, Harry
McCool.
Nellie McCool’s 1945 college yearbook photo.
Shortly
after graduating from high school, with the United State’s entry into
World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, both McCool
siblings became aviators.
Lt. Harry McCool was part of Doolittle’s famous raid over Tokyo and later flew missions over Europe.
Nellie McCool received her aviation training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where she was among the Class 44-7-Trainees and became a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), achieving the rank of Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
“Our motto was ‘We live in the wind and sand…and our eyes are on the stars,” McCool recalled.
Nellie McCool as a WASP
Ursula’s
life took a turn shortly after the war was over. “I married a G.I.,” she
recalled. Her marriage to Clifford Monroe brought her to the U.S. and
also gave her that first brush with Freemasonry. “My husband was a
Freemason,” she said. “I supported him in that. I didn’t know much about
it then. I thought it was only for men.”
Through the
years, Monroe also indulged a love for travel and experiences. In 1969,
she was adopted by the Sioux Red Cloud Clan tribe at Rosebud Reservation
in South Dakota in honor of her translation into German a book about
one of their Chiefs: Chief Eagle. She was given the name “Pte Sanaki
Napewin,” which translates into English as “She who brings out white
buffalo cow.”
“I used to
love to travel,” she said with a laugh. “Now I’m too lazy.” She earned
her Ph.D. in English and was a professor in the department of Humanities
at Colorado College until she retired.
McCool’s
life also changed after World War II ended. The WASPs were disbanded,
and McCool soon found herself back in school. She attended Colorado
College, majoring in Psychology. She later earned her Ph.D. in the
field. She became a teacher at several Colorado-area schools, including
North Junior High, South Security School, and Harrison Senior High
School. Later, she was supervisor of Vocational Guidance for the State
Board of Community Colleges and Occupational Education.
Ursula Monroe on one of her many travels
Monroe’s life took yet another turn in 1972 when her husband died. A few years after that, she met an associate of Manly P. Hall. That associate introduced her to Co-Freemasonry, though it was not her first understanding of the Craft.
“I was
always interested,” Monroe said. “I had to make that first contact. You
have to be around Freemasons and know Freemasons before you can become a
Freemason.”
She did
just that in 1979, Initiated on April 14th of that year in Lodge
Amor-Sapientia in Pasadena, California. She was Passed the following
12th of August and then Raised on the 3rd of August 1980. She became
Master of Kiva Lodge in Colorado Springs. On November 16th, 1998, she
became a member of the Supreme Council and serves on that body today.
It was a
few years after Monroe was made a Mason that she had that fateful
meeting with McCool in a Colorado Springs-area book store. “It turned
out we were living in the same area,” Monroe said.
The
friendship blossomed from there. It wasn’t long after that Monroe
introduced McCool to Co-Freemasonry. McCool was intrigued enough to go
have a look at the Order’s headquarters in Larkspur,
about an hour from her home then in Colorado Springs. “I drove there
and had a look at the building,” she said. “It just felt right.”
She
certainly was interested, McCool said. “I was very excited,” she said.
“I was happy to have found a Masonry that accepted women as well as
men.”
McCool was
initiated soon after, and ever since, they have been Masonically
together. If Monroe goes to a meeting, McCool does, too. If McCool does
something related to Masonry, Monroe will be there, too. Brothers in the
Order see the two as inseparable, where one turns up the other will
soon follow.
Both took
part in the funeral of then Grand Commander Helen Wycherly in May of
1993 at the Headquarters Temple in Larkspur. Monroe was Orator that day
while McCool was Junior Deacon. Today, both serve on the Orders’ Supreme
Council. McCool also became a member of the Order’s Grand Council of
Administration when she succeeded John Tzaras, who passed to the Grand
Lodge Eternal on October 23, 2009.
“It’s a way of life,” McCool said. “I can no longer imagine not being a Mason.”
Separate But Equal? The Masonic Society’s 2017 Conference
Wow, I start blogging and folks chime in for coverage of their favorite Masonic event, which is quite a compliment. Thank you.
Those who’ve
asked whether I’ll cover or attend a certain U.S.-based research
society’s conference in September have been quite taken aback by my
uncharacteristically icy response.
I don’t do
icy often or especially well. On this occasion, it’s deserved. I have
never, ever – for almost a decade – appreciated the need to push a
“separate but equal” idea behind full membership requirements of that
society. I find it especially and unnecessarily ugly because it’s done
by a society that supposedly has a high regard for Masonic scholarship.
No, I will not be attending The Masonic Society’s conference September 7-10 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Yes, I am
aware the conference is in the U.S. and it plans to feature “nationally
renowned Masonic speakers, panel discussions on Freemasonry, formal
festive board, and tours of the Kentucky Horse Park and Henry Clay’s
Ashland estate.” Yes, presentation topics are expected to include
“American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities,” “Admit
Him if Properly Clothed: Three Centuries of American Masonic Regalia,”
and “Data Driven Masonry.” Yes, there’s even a plan for a drawing for a
Kentucky long rifle.
I’ve heard
from one Co-Mason who lives in that region and received an email invite
from the society to attend the conference. That raised a brow for me.
Really? That’s a thing?
That prompted me to revisit the membership page of The Masonic Society, and I see that full membership requirements have not changed.
To be a full
member of the Masonic Society, you must be a Master Mason and member of
a lodge in good standing chartered by “a recognized Grand Lodge.” By
recognized, The Masonic Society is referring mostly to male-only orders,
so that your lodge is “recognized” just fine might not apply here. This
means that your Grand Lodge must be either a member of the Conference
of Grand Masters of Masons in North America (CGMMNA) or recognized by at
least three CGMMNA member grand lodges.
That’s not
the part that bothers me. If the society wants to have its own little
club and restrict membership, I have no issues with that point.
Freemasonry itself, after all, is exclusive.
What
troubles me is this bit: “All others, including but not limited to
Libraries, Masonic Lodges, Lodges of Research, other institutions, and
those individuals who do not otherwise qualify for full membership may
purchase a subscription to the Journal.”
So, my money is good enough for The Masonic Society, but I’m not. Well, huh.
Why bring it up? I can subscribe to any number of publications in the world put out by male-only bodies that don’t consider me “regular”
but see no need to point it out when I subscribe. The Masonic Society
supposedly is a research body that is independent, not beholden to any
grand lodge or Masonic supreme body, so specifically telling me a
subscription is all I may have is a bit glaring. It speaks volumes that
the society feels the need to pointedly state that.
It’s my
understanding that fees collected by The Masonic Society, including
subscriptions, pay for printing its regularly published magazine and to
fund its annual meetings, such as September’s conference. I hear the
society produces a lot of fine research.
Its
beginnings were difficult. The Masonic Society’s birth in March of 2008
was accompanied by far more heat than light. It was born out of a “failed coup” by disaffected Brothers of the Philalethes Society, which regularly publishes its “Journal of Masonic Research & Letters” and celebrated its own Assembly and Feast
in Bloomington, Minnesota earlier this month. The Philalethes Society
was shaken for quite a while but, to my observation, has since managed
to steady itself.
I was around
for a lot of the discussion at the time, and it was not pleasant. Amid
all that heat, the newly incorporated society’s, membership requirements
came up hardly at all. In fact, to my knowledge, I was the only one who
mentioned it.
I belong to
other research bodies and I’m kept plenty busy. I’m also friends with a
number of Brothers in The Masonic Society. I’m not doubting they do good
work, at least within their narrow sphere. I just don’t go there. As a
Co-Mason, I don’t go where I’m not wanted or respected.
That’s me,
my personal take and what I think about it. I’m not at all suggesting
that no one attend the conference or that anyone else be offended as I
am.
I am
suggesting that any Co-Mason or any other “unrecognized” Brother
who attends this conference or has anything to do with the society be
aware that she or he may be considered or treated as second-class.
I do not
intend to ever again blog about The Masonic Society so long as this bit
remains as it is. I’m thinking they won’t miss me. And since there is no
such thing as bad press, this coverage of the conference should be
plenty.
Peace.
ICOM 2017: A Call for Globalization of Masonic Research
If any single message could be said to have come out of last spring’s first International Meeting of Masonic Research Lodges in Toulon, France, it’s that Masonic scholars of all nations need to talk to each other.
England and France are examples of two countries where Masonic scholars do excellent work, British researcher John Belton
said during his comments at the three-day conference’s close in the
main auditorium at Neptune Palace. “But they don’t speak to each other,”
Belton said.
And yet the
water of Masonic research is all the same water “and there are other
rivers besides the Loire and the Thames,” he continued. Belton, whose
latest book, “Dudley Wright: Writer, Truthseeker & Freemason”
was released last summer, was among a number of contributors at the
conference who urged more international cooperation among Masonic
Scholars. Such networks have been attempted before but only a few have
succeeded.
Those few successes offer models for inclusion of scholarship from multiple continents. Neil Wynes Morse,
one of the world’s leading experts in Masonic ritual development and
President of the Australia and New Zealand Masonic Research Council,
described in his own comments the council’s program that every two years
hosts a scholar for a tour of that continent.
Australia
and New Zealand Masonic Research Council President Neil Wynes Morse,
left, during his final presentation at the ICOM and Louis Trebuchet, one
of the ICOM’s primary organizers, looks on.
Such a model
has been tried over the years elsewhere in the world without much
success but the ANZMRC program proves it can work. “You’re halfway
there,” Morse quipped. “Thank you for considering the antipodean model.”
The
International Meeting of Masonic Research Lodges, ICOM 2017, was the
first gathering that now is expected to happen every two years. A
mini-conference, one day only, was announced for next spring in
Washington D.C., and I’ll blog more about that as more information
becomes available. This year’s conference attracted about 2,300
participants and visitors for an extensive program of three plenary
lectures and 19 round-table discussions.
The two dozen internationally known scholars who attended included Belton, Morse, Louis Trebuchet, Pierre Mollier, Margaret Jacob, Oscar Alleyne, Mike Kearsley, Jan Snoek, and Robert Bashford.
Dutch researcher Jan Snoek, left, during one of his presentations.
Between the
conference rooms were exhibitions of about 150 Masonic artifacts owned
by the Grande Loge de France and from private collections, that
illustrated the roots of the Craft in France. These include tracing
boards, symbols, regalia, mallets, banners, maps and original documents.
“It was a
happy meeting – and maybe better because it was outside Paris,” Belton
told conference organizers in what may – or may not – have been a subtle
nudge at the World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France the following weekend. “I think the speakers were able to engage with the audience frere a frere in a way that cannot happen when a meeting is academic.”
Belton said he was especially impressed by the exemplification of an 18th Century French Initiation ceremony, complete with period costumes,
presented the last day of the conference. Brothers from Saint Jean
d’Ecosse Lodge No. 1, the Scottish Mother Lodge of Marseilles that
labors under the Grand Lodge of France, presented the ritual accompanied
by two violinists and a harpsichordist. “The reconstruction ceremony
was awesome because there were brothers and sisters from many continents
and many obediences and we were all able to share the same experience,”
Belton said.
For those
who couldn’t attend the conference and those who could but would like to
relive it, an audio download now is available. Please see the conference website for more details.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Photo Credit: Olafur Magnusson
Who Owns Freemasonry?
A
peculiar and apparently ongoing protest at an online Masonic
“University,” of which a sort-of Craft-based activist group reportedly
has taken over and is making demands, has raised an unexpected question:
Who Owns Freemasonry?
The question came up in The Past Bastard and it’s report this week
about a self-described group calling itself the SRJWs or “Scottish Rite
Justice Warriors” who have somehow taken over the online “Freemason
University.” The SRJWs have issued a list of oddly amusing demands that
must be met before “Freemason University” – which, to my knowledge, did
nothing to the SRJWs – will be allowed to continue on its way.
If you’ve never heard of Freemason University, go have a look here. It’s an online resource affiliated with the Grand Lodge of Ohio to
provide “essential tools for the leaders of our craft.” Modules include
leadership and management, ritual and an interesting section called
“Further Light.” Much of the material is available free online, free
being a very good thing for that daily progress in Masonry.
The fact that I can access the online university suggests the SRJWs need a better hacker.
“They asked
us to stop serving green beans and potatoes with baked chicken, and to
add some classes on such odd things as the history of the ritual,”
University Chairman Doug Darjeeling (who doesn’t Google at all) was
quoted by The Past Bastard. “I mean, who thinks of crazy things like that? It’s like they are asking us to teach that the UGLE doesn’t own Freemasonry.”
I can almost hear the crickets.
The Past Bastard reported that it, quite sensibly, pointed out to Darjeeling that the United Grand Lodge of England does not own Freemasonry. Darjeeling reportedly ended the interview, saying that The Past Bastard “needed to educate ourselves before we could even think about reporting on such a story.”
Uh-huh.
If you can’t tell by now, I’m not buying this story. After all, The Past Bastard – “Your Best Source for Masonic News Satire” – is like that.
However, I
suppose I can understand Bro. Darjeeling’s confusion – real or otherwise
– about the UGLE and it’s supposed ownership of Freemasonry. I’ve
encountered quite a few wildly uninformed Brothers who think the UGLE
was the first lodge of Freemasons (Edinburgh Lodge No. 1 and Mother Kilwinning respectfully object) and then act on that belief by thinking first implies ownership (proved no barrier to Christopher Columbus).
However, even if we dispense with that, it naturally follows that the true owner of Freemasonry should be named.
To get at that, Masonic scholars have for generations referred to the John F. Tolle decision,
an appeal decided by the U.S. Patent Office in 1872 on those occasions
when the ownership of Freemasonry has come up. Tolle was a businessman
who wanted to use the square and compasses on flour in barrels.
To be clear,
both the square and the compasses predate Freemasonry and are tools not
exclusive to operative masonry. Thus, Tolle did not see a problem with
using the tools to sell his flour. The U.S. Patent Office opined
otherwise:
“If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is, either less known, less significant, or fully and universally understood, all this might readily be admitted. But, considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol, perhaps the best known of all, of its ordinary significance wherever displayed. It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having Masonic significance, and therefore as a trademark must certainly work deception.”
While it
does not speak to ownership of Freemasonry, the opinion does speak to
who can – so far as the U.S. Patent Office is concerned – use the square
and compasses as an emblem that cannot be trademarked for other
purposes. Only Freemasons are entitled to it, according to the opinion.
You have to
follow it a bit further to recognize who owns Freemasonry. In my
opinion, the owners of Freemasonry are Freemasons, each and every one –
and none of them. Freemasons, often absentee owners at best, cannot
agree to what purpose we all work, but we are really darn sure we are
doing it. No one really is at the wheel and all of that may, perhaps,
point up the W*, S* & B* of Freemasonry. She is everywhere and
nowhere, everyone’s and no one’s.
Good luck putting the chains on.Rare Manuscript in Jeopardy: The Future of The York Manuscript No. 4
A painfully rare and important treasure of Freemasonry is in trouble.
The York Manuscript (MS) No. 4, long in the care of York Lodge 236, itself well within sight of the York Minister, is deteriorating.
There are
breaks and cracks along the edges of this precious document, and it can
no longer bear close inspection. Very good copies of York MS No. 4
exist, but the original itself is in real danger of passing away. The
Brothers of York Lodge 236 are actively looking for advice about how
best to conserve the roll.
York MS No. 4
is important to Freemasonry because it is a rare document that
describes the ritual and history of operative masonry, to which
Freemasonry can claim at least some connection. The roll, however, is
also of great importance for the history of women in Freemasonry because
this document contains a very critical word that has for generations
caused discomfort for a large number of male-only Freemasons.
That word is “shee.”
The manuscript itself, a copy taken from a far older document, dates to 1693 and tells the story of how Edwin, King of Northumbria, was made a Mason at York. While doing that, the document also described how it was done in that assembly.
A crucial portion of those instructions reads (with my italics; please see copy above):
“The one of the elders takeing the Booke and that hee or shee that is to be made mason shall lay their hands thereon, and the charge shall be given.”
The journey to see this document with my own eyes began in March of 2008 when I viewed a very good copy at the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire in Manchester.
That copy, an image of which is reproduced here, was so good that I mistook it for the original and so described it in my first book.
I was alerted to my error earlier this year and soon had an invitation to come to York and see the York MS No. 4 for myself.
Senior
Warden Joe Postill, along with Junior Warden and Acting Librarian Graham
Kaye, BEM, were my hosts that beautiful spring day in May. York Lodge
236 has been in possession of the roll since it was donated to the Lodge
in 1736 by Francis Drake, York’s first historian and author of his own “History and Antiquities of Yorkshire.”
York Roll No. 4 is not the only treasure preserved by York Lodge 236. The Lodge also holds
portions of York Rolls No. 1 and No. 2, which together provide the
earliest references to nonoperative masons in the guild at York. The
Lodge also preserves splendid old tracing boards, other artifacts, and
even has beautiful editions – with hand illuminated frontispieces – of Robert Gould’s “History of Freemasonry”.
Of course, I
was there to see York Roll No. 4, and my hosts did remove it for me
from its container and unrolled it a little ways. However, it soon was
clear the roll simply cannot bear too much handling, and it was safely
returned to its container. I didn’t get to see that critical sentence,
detailed above, for myself but I’ve no doubt it’s there. Perhaps, one
day, after it is somehow conserved, I will have a chance to do so.
York MS No.
4’s importance to the history of women in operative and speculative
masonry in particular, and modern Freemasonry in general, cannot be
overestimated.
This crucial
roll, along with other very rare old documents, points up a fact that
some male-only Masons would prefer be otherwise: that there was no bar to women’s membership in the old operative guilds.
In fact, the
exclusion of women was an innovation introduced by male-only Masons
eager that there be no women not only in male-only lodges but also none
in their own female-only lodges or in mixed lodges elsewhere. While
there is no period in modern Freemasonry in which there is not at least
one woman Freemason documented somewhere in the world, the Craft was
well into its second century before the lodge doors became more
generally open to women. It remains a difficult struggle in many parts
of the world even to the present day.
For this
reason, York MS No. 4’s deteriorating condition amounts to an emergency
that needs to be addressed by those who know how. I most certainly hope
that happens.
Co-Masonic Order Resumes “Universal” as Part of its Official International Name
The
Order for decades called “The Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry”
now is “The Honorable Order of Universal Co-Masonry.” The decision
follows a vote by the Order’s Grand Consistory and Lodges, with 95
percent of the Lodges and 100 percent of the Consistory approving the
proposition. The vote was ratified by a unanimous vote of the Supreme
Council on April 25th, 2017.
“Universal
has a geographical implication of being all over the globe, but also
that we allow membership of all races, creeds, religions, sexual
orientations, etc.,” Matias Cumsille, President of the Order’s Corporate
wing, the American Federation of Human Rights, said in an email.
The corporate name remains the same.
The word
“Universal” was part of the Order’s original name during its beginnings
in North America, where the first Co-Masonic Lodge on the continent was
founded in 1903. The word “Universal” first appears in Co-Masonic
history with the founding of “The Order of Universal Co-Freemasonry in
Great Britian and the British Dependencies” by Annie Besant in 1902.
That Order
operated under the umbrella the French-based “Maçonnerie Mixte”, today
know as The International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women, Le
Droit Humain. The North American Order then was Le Droit Humain’s
American Federation.
“Universal”
likewise became part of the North American Federation’s name and seems
to have intermittently continued into the 1940s. An investigation into
why the word “Universal” ultimately was replaced turned up no certain
answers. North American Co-Masonry remained part of Le Droit Humain
until a separation during a protracted and often contentious legal
proceeding in the 1990s.
The Order in
North America has since operated as an independent Masonic body, “The
Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry,” operating out of its long-time
headquarters in Larkspur, Colorado. Le Droit Humain, for its part,
established a new American Federation chartered in Delaware.
Over the
past decade, American Co-Masonry expanded outside its traditional North
American boundaries and today includes Lodges in South America. That
expansion made the time right to assume a visibly international identity
and resume use of the word “Universal” in place of “American,” Cumsille
said.
Photo: Cover
of one of the first ritual books used in American Co-Masonry, including
the original use of “Universal” as part of the Order’s original name.
Welcome
Welcome to the blog.
Look
for a new post here at least once a week on topics of interest to
Freemasons in general, to Co-Freemasons in particular. This blog is
hosted and sponsored by the Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry, the
American Federation of Human Rights, so expect lots and lots of news
from and about that Order.
It
is the intent of this blog to share news, articles and other Masonic
information that you won’t necessarily find on other U.S.-based Masonic
blogs, websites and news outlets. That need has gone unfulfilled way too
long. Rectifying that is the most important thing this blog can do, to
broaden the amount of Masonic news and information available to
rank-and-file Freemasons, regardless of jurisdiction.
That
effort will be brought to a grinding halt if we don’t, right away and
right up front, address the topic that just won’t to quit. Currently,
the only online topic of discussion about Co-Masonry, at least in the
U.S., seems to be about whether it exists (yeah, it has, for well more
than a century). There generally follows the ever – forever – tiresome
talk about “regularity” and “amity”. Then the word “clandestine” gets
tossed into the conversation and what follows usually puts off way more
heat than light, especially if no Co-Mason is present to speak truth to
ignorance.
I
am heartily sick of that topic. I won’t blog about it, unless it
somehow becomes news, and any posts about it in the comment section will
be deleted. Don’t bring it here and don’t expect me to be moved by any
mention of 1st Amendment Rights and etc. This is a private blog, not a
public access, and there are plenty of other places online to talk about
that worn-thin topic that never goes anywhere.
This
blog will do its humble best to go somewhere, to push past that topic
and try to move the conversation forward onto other topics.
Make
no mistake, there’s a need for that. For instance, most on this side of
the pond, Mason and otherwise, don’t know about news in Co-Masonry and
female-only Masonry because it isn’t much reported.
For
instance, the Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry has darn near
tripled in size during the last decade and a new Lodge building is
expected to be consecrated later this year.
Oh, and the Order’s name is about to change.
Expect all that in future blog posts.
It
isn’t just news about the Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry
Masonic that goes unreported. News and information about Freemasonry in
Europe seldom falls on our ears. For instance, the Mixed Grand Lodge of France got a new Grand Master last year. In November, Marie-Thérèse Besson, Grand Maîtrese of the of the Feminine Grand Lodge of France gave a lecture in Saint-Gaudin .
Last spring, the Irish Times published an article about the history of women Freemasons and Co-Masons in that country.
Closer
to home and earlier this month, there was – in my opinion – an
incredibly important and ground-shaking discussion in Philadelphia about
the misconceptions between Prince Hall Freemasonry and traditionally African American churches. That event hasn’t been reported much outside of Philadelphia.
Sure,
all those events, foreign and domestic, got some attention in the
local, nonMasonic press but they warranted not so much as a whisper in
the established U.S.-based male-only blogs, websites and news outlets.
And there’s no reason why it should. Those sites and outlets prefer to
serve only a portion of the Masonic audience. And that’s OK, they have
every right to do so.
However,
that partial coverage is a very crooked way to navigate through news,
articles and information about Freemasonry. It leaves the reader with
the inevitable impression that there are only male-only Masons and,
therefore, only their news is relevant.
That hasn’t been true for a very long time.
With
this blog, I hope to make that crooked way straight. This blog has
every right to do that, or to at least try. In any case, the quiet time
is over.
Lane's Masonic Lodges
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Masonic Temple in the Restaurant Frascati, London
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Welcome to Lane's Masonic Records
John Lane’s Masonic Records 1717-1894 is an authoritative listing of all the lodges established by the English Grand Lodges from the foundation of the first Grand Lodge in 1717 up until 1894. It was published by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1895 and proved to be a very useful reference book for anyone with an interest in freemasonry under any of the English Grand Lodges. Masonic Records enables the early history of freemasonry in a particular place to be readily traced and provides information about individual lodges.In 2003, The Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism under the Directorship of Professor Andrew Prescott in collaboration with the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London produced an electronic version of Lane’s book. Since 2008 the Library and Museum of Freemasonry has been adding lodges that came into existence after 1894 to the database and eventually hope to edit the records of pre-1894 lodges to include meeting places after that date.
This new version of Masonic Records is a joint venture between the Library and Museum of Freemasonry and the Humanities Research Institute at The University of Sheffield.
Please use the following text when citing data from this website:
Lane's Masonic Records, version 1.0 (<http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/lane>, October 2011).
Published by HRI Online Publications, ISBN 978-0-955-7876-8-3
Published by HRI Online Publications, ISBN 978-0-955-7876-8-3
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