Freemasonry is a post-collegiate mostly-all male fraternity dedicated to the social development of the member to form a broader sense of the self and their community.
I know it’s a bit of an outlandish idea, and that few would readily take it seriously, or even believe a headline like the above, but in the magical world of “what if”, imagine for a moment that just such a story were hit the media outlets to say that the performer had entered the pillared threshold of a Co-Masonic lodge and undertaken the degrees of the fraternity.
Would it really be news worthy, or would it be just an interesting tidbit of information with no real net affect to the public perception? Would her visits to lodges be chronicled by the likes of Perez Hilton or TMZ, or would her interaction with the craft be ignored for more interesting news of the day?
On the other end of the spectrum, what would Britney possibly take away from the degrees? Would the allegories and symbolism of the craft be taken with any degree of seriousness and austerity or would it be a just another thing to do like collecting Chihuahuas or magazine covers with her portrait on them? I suppose the question could be distilled down to ask would she learnsomething from the degrees?
Red Skelton
In the long run the path of this imagine doesn’t really matter, that the likelihood of her becoming a Mason are about as high as a pig sprouting wings and flying, but the exercise going through the “what if” scenario is reminiscent to me of the era of Freemasonry that courted and brought in the nobility of England in the 1700’s which at that time led it to a greater degree of credibility and public standing and thereby increased its ranks and social interest with its line of Duke’s, Earl’s, and Princes as Grand Masters. In other words, we can obviously see that the publicity helped grow the organization. Is it that celebrity factor that is missing today? And if so, then what is the measurable benefit besides an increased public awareness and acceptance that is gained by such celebrity?
John Wayne
Interestingly, the Shrine has tapped the fame of Justin Timberlake as their spokesman for their celebrity golf tournament in Las Vegas, but it does not suggest that he is a Masons, merely a spokesman for its event. I wonder what the difference would be if he were to wear the apron (or fez) and it was publicized to the media at large? Is that the credibility boost that is lacking today as the past vanguards of entertainment such as John Wayne or Red Skelton begin to eclipse to the new and younger generation?
Is it a lack of A-list celebrities in the media age of tabloid news and infotainment that has Masonry slipping back into the quiet recesses of obscurity?
Maybe the fraternity needs a Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie (or both) to don the apron and make being a Mason cool again like it was in the era of Prince Albert Edward at the turn of the 20th Century.
But imagine if Britney took the oath, what would the face of Masonry look like then?
They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. – Andy Warhol
What is the average age of your Lodge members? Interestingly, very few Lodges take the time to calculate this figure which I consider to be a rather important indicator of the Lodge.
Fortunately, the average age of my Lodge has dropped to 64.1 years old. This is down from the high 60’s just a few years ago (we never did hit 70) and this is because we have been blessed with several fine young men who have joined our Lodge and replaced some of the “Greatest Generation” who we recently lost.
The “average age” number itself doesn’t tell us much. It is when we compare it to prior years and plot increases or decreases which tells us something about the Lodge. Whereas an increase means we are not getting much in the way of younger members, a decrease means just the opposite. This is also indicative of Lodge programming and public relations. Perhaps the reason why the average age is increasing is that the Lodge has become somewhat lethargic and set in its ways and is no longer regarded as a viable institution in the community.
Our current average age also tells me that “Baby Boomers” represent the lion’s share of members in our Lodge. This leads me to believe that the average age will inevitably rise again as this substantial generation (which includes yours truly) gets older and grayer. The only thing that can prevent this is a major influx of young members, but I do not see this happening anytime soon. I am certainly not suggesting we open the floodgates and allow anybody in with a pulse, but we should renew our efforts to reexamine our image and position the fraternity into something for younger people to seriously consider.
Thanks to modern medicine, we’re living a lot longer than our predecessors. It also means the Boomers will inevitably raise the average age of our Lodges over the next 10-20 years. As such, now is the time to take action to make our Lodges fun, interesting and meaningful. Surely we do not want to abandon our heritage, principles, or degrees, but we need to exercise our imagination and make Freemasonry more contemporary with the times.
If we don’t, it won’t be long before we’re sitting in a Lodge where the average age is 90 (and nobody will be able to make it up the stairs to the Lodge room).
Keep the Faith.
Freemasonry From the Edge
by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS timb001@phmainstreet.com Palm Harbor, Florida, USA A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry
NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction or any other Masonic related body. As with all of my Masonic articles herein, please feel free to reuse them in Masonic publications or re-post them on Masonic web sites (except Florida). When doing so, please add the following:
Article reprinted with permission of the author and www.FreemasonInformation.com
Please forward me a copy of the publication when it is produced.
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This is investigative reporter Donald P. Stoddard for Secret Society Watch.
Over the past year, I have infiltrated a Masonic Lodge in order to find out the truth about the Illuminati-Freemasonry connection. Freemasons have been denying any association with the Illuminati for years, but this reporter remained suspicious about the information surrounding the two orders.
The primary reason that I believed such a connection must exist was the fact that Freemasons had opposed such an assertion vehemently. When I met with a local Mason on the street to ask him about the Illuminati’s presence in the fraternity, he replied “I don’t even know what the Illuminati is.” A suspicious statement for a man that is suppose to keep such a connection secret. When I later petitioned a Masonic Lodge so that I might gain admittance and thus become privy to their well-kept secret, I was asked why I wanted to become a Mason. I replied, “I’m interested to see what sort of affect that the fraternity has on society, if you catch my drift.” The investigating Masons laughed and I was accepted into the lodge shortly thereafter, a clear sign that I was on the right track to discovering the presence of the Illuminati in one of America’s largest and most secret organizations.
After receiving the degrees, it was quite clear to me that the Masonic fraternity was interested in presenting allegorical lessons that required further learning in order to understand their meaning, or more correctly, become a functioning member of the Illuminati. The members of the lodge informed me that most of the United States’ presidents had been Masons. I was only aware of fourteen that had belonged to the fraternity, but several Brothers assured me that other presidents had indeed belonged. This reporter will refer to those presidents and other public officials that are not publicly known to be Freemasons, but are claimed as Brothers in the organization as “Secret Masons.” I discovered that such Secret Masons included Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, and even Simon Cowell. So the Masons, or the Illuminati, weren’t only concerned about controlling the country or the world, but they were also eager to fill the airwaves with terrible pop music in order to dull the senses of the masses. Ingenious!
When I finally got around to asking the Worshipful Master of the lodge—and yes I said worshipful as in to be worshiped–if I could attend one of the Illuminati’s meetings, he informed me that I was asking the wrong person. Of course, he was correct. I had made the error of thinking that a simple Master Mason belonged to the Illuminati. It was obvious that only 32nd Degree members were allowed to attend these meetings. I quickly became a member of the Scottish Rite to earn that degree and was once again disappointed to find that I would not be admitted to the meetings of the Illuminati as a 32nd Degree Mason. It was evident that I would have to receive the 33rd Degree, which I would have to wait nearly eight years to obtain. Indeed, these Masons were no novices at running the world. It is quite smart to make sure that only the most devoted members are allowed to have their voices heard at a meeting of the Illuminati.
However, when I asked one of the 33rd Degree members if I would be able to finally find out more about the Illuminati when I reached that degree, he replied, “Well, you might find just what your looking for by becoming a Shrine Clown” and whipped out a petition. I eagerly signed it and donned my red nose and floppy shoes so that I could finally become a member of the Illuminati. So I have been tirelessly performing at the Shrine Circus in order to gain a reputation among the other clowns and be invested with membership in the Illuminati. It appears that the Masons realize that the key to global domination is to influence the inexperienced minds of America’s youth. This is certainly a conspiracy that even Dan Brown couldn’t develop.
Yes, you heard it here first folks, the Shrine Clowns are the modern day version of the Illuminati and they are aided by the help of their many fellow Secret Masons in the entertainment industry. The truth is that the vast majority of people featured on programs such as CNN’s Showbiz Tonight are fellow clowns, helping to spread the Freemasons’ gospel of a New World Order. Now, this reporter is off to what he hopes is his first Illuminati meeting where about twenty of us will be gathering to discuss our master plan in a 1990 Ford Festiva disguised inconspicuously as a circus vehicle.
Until next time, this is Investigative Reporter Donald P. Stoddard for Secret Society Watch.
In September of 1882, the Chicago-based National Christian Association unveiled a 35-foot tall monument to William Morgan in a cemetery in Batavia, New York, unveiling a new round of anti-Masonic feelings in the process. It had been more than a half century since William Morgan had vanished from the village, kidnapped and murdered, it was said, by members of the Masonic fraternity who were outraged that a man they had welcomed as a brother had betrayed them by exposing their mysteries to profane eyes.
And yet the murder of William Morgan was never proven; the discovery of a body on the shores of Oak Orchard Creek a year after his disappearance, at first supposed to be that of William Morgan was just as quickly supposed to be that of Timothy Monro, a Canadian who had allegedly drowned a few weeks before the discovery. And so the matter was brought to a close. No corpse, no crime. In 1831, Victor Birdseye, who served as the last special council in the Morgan investigations concluded on his report to the New York State legislature that:
The information thus elicited, is sufficient, I trust to satisfy the public mind as to the ultimate fate of Morgan: that he was taken into the Niagara, at night, about the 19th of September and there sunk. Yet the evidence, although apparently sufficient for all purposes of human belief, is not sufficient to establish, with legal certainty, and according to adjudged cases, the murder of Morgan. (1)
William Morgan and the rise of the Anti Masonic Party
Birdseye could not help but be frustrated as he saw his efforts as well as those of his predecessors, John C. Spencer and Daniel Mosley, thwarted as key Masonic witnesses and accused either dodged questions in the witness box, refused to testify altogether or fled the scene to avoid prosecution. Five years of legal investigation and prosecution on the matter of Morgan’s disappearance resulted in 20 grand juries and 15 trials. Of the 54 Freemasons indicted by the grand jury, only 39 were brought to trial and only 10 of those were convicted. (2) Although the 10 Masons convicted of abducting Morgan served light sentences ranging from one month to 28 months, the Craft as a whole served a nearly two-decade-long period of Masonic caliginosity, a backlash against the Craft that punished all Freemasonry for the actions of a few of its misguided members.
And yet, Freemasonry survived and grew to strength in the years after the American Civil War, her opponents less vocal than they had been when anti-Masonry had passed through the churches on its journey from the honest indignation of the citizens of Western New York to the political machinations of the Anti-Masonic Party, a party led by men like Thurlow Weed.
Thurlow Weed, editor of the Rochester Daily Telegraph when Morgan was abducted.
Weed was a Rochester newspaperman and editor of the Rochester Daily Telegraph when Morgan was abducted and soon took an active interest in the investigations. Although publicly humiliated and ridiculed for his alleged desecration of Timothy Monro’s corpse in October of 1827 to make it look like Morgan, Weed continued to attack Freemasonry throughout the remainder of his life, launching his final Parthian arrow at the unveiling of the Morgan monument in 1882, just weeks before his death. Although he was unable to attend in person, Weed sent a letter to the organizers that told of the confession of John Whitney, one of the men convicted of abducting Morgan, and a man who not only fled to New Orleans to avoid prosecution, (3) but who also refused to testify in one of the later trials. (4) In Weed’s account of things, in 1831, while visiting in his home, John Whitney confessed to murdering Morgan:
Whitney then related in detail the history of Morgan’s abduction and fate. The idea of suppressing Morgan’s intended exposure of the secrets of Masonry was first suggested by a man by the name of Johns. It was discussed in lodges at Batavia, Le Roy and Rochester. Johns suggested that Morgan should be separated from Miller and placed on a farm in Canada West. For this purpose he was taken to Niagara and placed in the magazine of the Fort until arrangements for settling him in Canada were completed, but the Canadian Masons disappointed them. After several meetings of the lodge in Canada, opposite Fort Niagara, a refusal to have anything to do with Morgan left his “kidnappers” greatly perplexed. Opportunely a Royal Arch chapter was installed at Lewiston. The occasion brought a large number of enthusiastic Masons together. “After labor,” in Masonic language, they “retired to refreshment.” Under the exhilaration of champagne and other viands the Chaplain (the Rev. F. H. Cummings, of Rochester) was called on for a toast. He responded with peculiar emphasis and in the language of their ritual: “The enemies of our order may they find a grave six feet deep, six feet long, and six feet due east and west.” Immediately after that toast, which was received with great enthusiasm, Col. William King, an officer in our war of 1812, and then a Member of Assembly from Niagara county, called Whitney of Rochester, Howard of Buffalo, Chubbuck of Lewiston, and Garside of Canada, out of the room and into a carriage furnished by Major Barton. They were driven to Fort Niagara, repaired to the magazine and informed Morgan that the arrangements for sending him to Canada were completed and that his family would soon follow him. Morgan received the information cheerfully and walked with supposed friends to the boat, which was rowed to the mouth of the river, where a rope was wound around his body, to each end of which a sinker was attached. Morgan was then thrown overboard. He grasped the gunwale of the boat convulsively. Garside, in forcing Morgan to relinquish his hold was severely bitten. (5)
Weed’s version of Whitney’s story was pretty strong evidence against the Masonic fraternity at a time when Freemasonry was once again feeling the pressure of anti-Masonic inquiry. The letter, which was published by the National Christian Association in pamphlet form in 1882 also found its way into many New York newspapers including the December 7, 1882 edition of The Malone Palladium, which ran the letter below the headline, The Death of Morgan: Thurlow Weed’s Dying Revelation.(6) It is doubtless that few readers, particularly those predisposed to a mistrust of Freemasonry, gave any critical thought to Weed’s claims, accepting the account as a true and accurate depiction of what really happened.
Masonic author, and liar, Rob Morris
But the same can be said of the Freemasons who accepted, without question, another version of the Whitney confession, the one offered by the Masonic author Rob Morris. In 1883, the year after the raising of Morgan’s monument in the Batavia cemetery, Morris, a well-known and well-loved Masonic poet and author, wrote a book called William Morgan: Or Political Anti-Masonry, Its Rise, Growth, And Decadence (1883). The book presented the argument that Morgan was not abducted and murdered by Freemasons, but deported to Canada at his own request. It is little surprise that the story, as told by Morris, was joyfully received by the Masonic fraternity and became the foundation stone upon which other Masonic writers would build their version of the tale, a tale that is accepted and repeated by North American Freemasons to this day.
Morris’ re-imagining of the series of events from Morgan’s arrest in Batavia until his disappearance at Fort Niagara is largely based on the alleged oral testimony of his key witness in his defense of the Craft, John Whitney; the same man Thurlow Weed claimed confessed to assisting with Morgan’s murder.
Whitney’s account of things is told in Chapter VII of William Morgan and is claimed to be information Whitney gave to Morris in 1859. (7) The Morris / Whitney story tells us that it was John Whitney and Nicholas Chesebro who engineered Morgan’s “deportation” to Canada, assisted by a handful of other dedicated members of the Masonic fraternity, viz. Col. William King, Burrage Smith, Loton Lawson and Sheriff Eli Bruce, (8) the entire plan organized with the full understanding, acceptance and financial support of Governor De Witt Clinton. (9) Morris claimed that John Whitney told him he went to visit Clinton at Albany in August of 1826, returning to Rochester with a detailed plan and a signed letter from the Governor making it clear that “no steps must be taken that would conflict with a citizen’s duty to the law.” (10) Clinton’s plan, according to the Morris / Whitney story was to attempt to buy Morgan’s manuscript and get him to agree to a deportation to some foreign country where he might be separated from his publishing partner David Miller. (11) The governor also assured Whitney of $1,000 if required, and the assurance that those involved would be sustained by Masonic authorities within New York State, so long as things were kept legal. (12)
Whitney allegedly went to Batavia on September 5th, 1826, where he offered Morgan $50 cash and the payment of his debts if he would destroy his exposé and leave the country. (13)
With Morgan’s willingness to leave taken care of, Whitney then went to Canandaigua the next day to involve Nicholas Chesebro in the plan, both men being known to each other through their membership in the Knights Templar at Rochester. (14) The two men agreed that the easiest way to get Morgan quietly out of Batavia was to have him arrested, (15) Ebenezer Kingsley being persuaded to press charges against Morgan for the shirt and cravat Morgan had borrowed from him the previous May, but had yet to return.
Morgan’s journey from the jail at Canandaigua to Fort Niagara is covered by Morris in the course of a few pages that make a hero of Whitney for staying with Morgan the whole journey as they changed horses and carriages, all donated by Masons willing to help separate Morgan from his publisher David Miller. (16) In Whitney’s account of the story, he was joined by Eli Bruce and Col. William King at Lockport and the three men traveled with Morgan from Youngstown to the soldier’s burial ground, a half mile from Fort Niagara in the early hours of September 14, 1826. (17) When Whitney, King and Bruce arrived at the river’s edge, Edward Giddins and Elisha Adams transported the three men and Morgan across the river to a deserted bank on the Canadian side, a mile from the Village of Niagara. (18) Morgan remained in the boat with Giddins and Adams, while Bruce, King and Whitney went to the village and met with two Canadian Masons, men Whitney was unprepared to reveal to Morris 33 years after the event. (19)
After a while, the Canadian Masons returned to the boat with their American counterparts and Bruce summoned Morgan to join the five men on the shore. With nothing but the moon and a couple of lanterns to light the night, Morris would have his reader believe that Colonel King made notes on several points Morgan swore to before the party of Masons:
First. That he had contracted with Miller and others, to write an exposition of Masonry, for which he was to receive one half-million dollars compensation.
Second. That he had never been made a Mason in any Lodge, but had received the Royal Arch Degree in a regular manner. Furthermore, that he felt bound by his Royal Arch obligation and never intended to reveal the secrets of that degree.
Third. That Miller and the other partners had utterly failed to fulfill the terms of contract with him.
Fourth. That Whitney had paid him $50 at Danolds’ Tavern (Batavia), and he had agreed to destroy the written and printed work so far as possible and furnish no more, and that before leaving Batavia he had done what he promised in that way.
Fifth. That it was impossible now for Miller to continue the “Illustrations,” as he [Morgan] had written them. If he published any book, it would have to be made from some other person’s materials.
Sixth. That Miller was only an Entered Apprentice, and ‘rusty as hell’ at that.
Seventh. That he had been treated by Chesebro, Whitney, Bruce and all of them, with perfect kindness in his journey, and he had nothing but the best of feelings for them.
Eighth. That he was willing and anxious to be separated from Miller and from all idea of a Masonic Exposé; wished to live in habits of industry and respectability before all men; wished to go to the interior of Canada and settle down as a British citizen; wished to have his family sent him soon as possible; might want to go to Quebec some time and have his eyes operated on; expected five hundred dollars when he reached the place as agreed upon; expected more money from year to year to help him out if necessary and if he should show himself worthy of it.
Ninth. Finally he was sorry for the uproar his proceedings had made; was sorry for the expense he had put the Masons to; sorry for the disgrace he and his family had suffered; sorry for the shame and mortification of his friends, and he ‘had no idea that David Cade Miller was such a damned scoundrel as he turned out to be.’ (20)
WIlliam Morgan Pillar in present day Batavia New York
Whitney claimed that the Canadian Masons, although prepared to take Morgan as agreed, couldn’t do so for a week and were unprepared to keep him during the interim. Morgan consented to being locked up in the powder magazine at Fort Niagara until that time and Edward Giddins prepared the room with a mattress, chair and other items for Morgan’s personal comfort. (21) Morgan finally left the magazine on September 17, 1826 when the two Canadians came over to the American side, gave Whitney a receipt for the $500 they were to give Morgan and returned to the western side of the river. Whitney claimed that the two Canadian Masons rode on horseback with Morgan from the Village of Niagara to a spot near present day Hamilton, Ontario where they had him sign a receipt for the $500 and a document outlining the circumstances of his deportation, as well as a promise not to return to the United States without the permission of Colonel William King, Sheriff Eli Bruce or John Whitney. (22) Conveniently, all of the documents vanished when they could have been used to prove the innocence of the abductors.
Morris was a master at telling his audience what they wanted to hear. It is important to remember that Freemasonry had only recently returned from a period of Masonic darkness that ran for nearly two decades and was only now beginning to grow to strength after the conclusion of the American Civil War. But it was also a time when The National Christian Association, assisted by Thurlow Weed, were rekindling anti-Masonic feelings with the former’s erection of the Morgan monument in 1882 and the latter’s death bed support of the same. One can hardly blame Morris for wanting to defend Freemasonry, an institution he loved, and his book William Morgan was released within months of the erection of the Morgan monument.
But is it a true account of what happened? As much as we would like to believe every word of Morris’ account, it is a lie.
William Morgan was not Morris’ first book on the subject. In 1861, two years after his alleged interview with John Whitney, he published 1,000 copies of the book The Masonic Martyr: The Biography of Eli Bruce, Sheriff of Niagara county N.Y., who for his attachment to the principles of Masonry, and his fidelity to his trust, was imprisoned twenty-eight months in the Canandaigua jail. (23) This book, as the lengthy title implies, was designed to remove the shadow that had been cast over the name of Eli Bruce, who had received the harshest sentence of any of the Morgan conspirators. Although the bulk of the book recounts the 28 months Bruce spent in the Canandaigua jail (the same jail from which Morgan was taken in the middle of the night) Morris offers a chapter on the abduction of Morgan and one on the anti-Masonic party. It is these two chapters that are most telling in light of Morris’ later treatment of the subject. Although frequently softening the blow against Freemasonry, Morris presents his reader with a fairly straightforward account of the Morgan story up to his placement in the powder magazine at Fort Niagara, even leveling criticism at Freemasons for being imprudent in their actions and murderous threats against Morgan. (24) It is only in his closing paragraphs that Morris provides us with the embryo of an idea that he would carry to full term two decades later:
Our own surmise, which, after a careful perusal of all the testimony, and much questioning of the remaining actors in the abduction who still survive, may perhaps be as good as any other, is that Morgan was abundantly supplied with money by those who had expended so much, and run such risks to separate him from Miller and his confederates, and that he was assisted to pass into Canada, the scene of his former adventures, where among a rough and lawless border population, he met the end likely to befall a drunken, boasting fellow, whose pockets were sufficiently well lined to render him a desirable prey.
Certainly, there is no evidence that he was murdered by Freemasons. The facts that they took him openly from the jail at Canandaigua, that they left a broad trail behind them, for more than one hundred and fifteen miles through a thickly settled country, and, that so many were admitted into the secret of the abduction, forbid such a supposition; the character of all the actors from Mr. N. G. Chesebro, the earliest, to Col. William King, the latest, forbid it even more strongly. That the abduction was a consummate piece of folly, from first to last, it is easy at this period to affirm; but, those who affirm it the most loudly, had they felt the provocations the brethren in Western New York experienced, might have committed the same error. In our private notes of Masonic History since 1846, we find more than one “Morgan case,” which was only prevented from coming to a head by the prudence of a few, who remembered the dark days of Eli Bruce and Col. King, and taught discretion to the more rash and indignant. (25)
In the foregoing excerpt we see a Rob Morris who was willing to accept that Morgan was likely murdered, albeit by a lawless band of Canadians waiting at the border for wealthy American drunkards, but perhaps more importantly, we see an acceptance that Freemasons could and did act rashly and improperly in the abduction of William Morgan in the fall of 1826. Morris accepts that the abduction of Morgan was “a consummate piece of folly,” but defends the abductors against the pointing fingers of their detractors by stating that “had they felt the provocations the brethren in Western New York experienced, might have committed the same error.” In other words, their actions were faulty, but justified.
If, as Morris claimed, John Whitney told him the full story in 1859, why did he not include it in his 1861 biography of Eli Bruce? It is certainly possible that Morris promised to keep the information confidential until Whitney’s death, but the man died in 1869. And yet, Morris waited until 1883, more than a decade later to finally put the story in print. The timing of his book to coincide with renewed anti-Masonic attacks makes it likely that Morris needed a version of the Whitney story of his own? Given the closing words of his book William Morgan, it is almost certain that Rob Morris, one of the most respected Masonic authors of his day, created the Morgan deportation story to defend his beloved Freemasonry:
But I protest that I never would have published this work—though I had long been collecting materials for it—if that old man’s drivelings had been suppressed.
The Masonic Order had so completely outlived Weed and his party and his hatreds, we were doing so well, that I should have buried the subject in oblivion and destroyed the material so laboriously accumulated rather than open a quarrel of which [Millard] Fillmore, [William H.] Seward, John Quincy Adams, Thaddeus Stevens and all the more respectable members of the Anti-Masonic party had become heartily ashamed before they died. Only one man was left, and he imbecile in body and mentally feeble, who could reopen the subject. Of all men living he was most interested in keeping the matter still. What evil spirit was it, then, that drew Thurlow Weed from his retirement to poison the community with Anti-Masonic slanders even with his dying breath. (26)
With no conviction in the murder of William Morgan, all we are left with today is a 183-year-old cold case; a case which the Masonic fraternity closed long ago, long after it had rebuilt itself from the ashes of anti-Masonic fires and long after one of its most sainted apologists had written the version of the story Freemasons wanted to hear, the one they needed to believe, the one that has been repeated time and again until it can be quoted as if it were a part of the Masonic ritual. Although we may not know the ultimate fate of William Morgan, it is my hope that at least one myth has finally been put to rest.
Phoenixmasonry is a proactive approach to, and practice of, Freemasonry. The name Phoenixmasonry combines the symbolic spirit of rebirth and renewal associated with the ancient mythological bird the Phoenix with the ancient Craft knowledge of Masonry, hence the name Phoenixmasonry. Our Latin motto: Non Omnis Moriar. ”Not all of me shall die”.
Here at Phoenixmasonry, we believe that each of us has had the feeling of being consumed by fire. That the problems of our lives have left us in the pit of despair, the ashes of destruction, although it may not have been the fire that creates those ashes. Adversity and the overcoming of it makes us stronger. Just as the beautiful Temple of King Solomon rose from the rubbish and ashes of barbarous forces to become an even more magnificent and resplendent structure, our belief and faith in living a moral life allows us to rise up from the ashes to become stronger and better Freemasons.
It was on August 11, 1999 that David Lettelier, heading a small group of Masonic collectors scattered across the USA , created a virtual Masonic museum and library and called it Phoenixmasonry. Phoenixmasonry, unlike most other museums and libraries, was not housed in a physical plant but rather displayed its artifacts, collectibles and rare books on the Internet. Open 24 hours a day with no admission fee, Masonry’s first online museum and library grew and grew and grew, until today it is visited more each day than any other Masonic website on the Internet. The Phoenixmasonry staff contains experienced Librarians and antique appraisers and it is a proud Member of the Masonic Library and Museum Association at:
Today it continues to add collectibles while at the same time offering some current Masonic thought from today’s cutting edge Masonic authors and writers.
Along the way to this pinnacle of success many Brothers and Sisters have lent a helping hand and contributed to the continual improvement of this wonderful Masonic Site. To commemorate the Tenth anniversary of Phoenixmasonry and honor its contributors a special edition engraved copper coin has been struck. The front of the coin has Phoenixmasonry’s Masonic logo and commemorates its Tenth anniversary. The back of the coin features all the names, in circular fashion, of those who have helped Phoenixmsonry be what it is today. It is only fitting and proper that these contributors be joined in a circle of friendship signifying a fraternal family dedicated to Masonic knowledge and education. Each contributor received a gold plated version of the commemorative coin but anybody can order the copper version from the website at a cost of $15.00 each plus $2.50 shipping and handling while limited supplies last.
What you will find in the Phoenixmasonry museum is a large selection of rare and expensive treasured Masonic artifacts with a brief story of their origin and a description of their finer points. Here is the much sought after Dudley Masonic Pocket Watch made by a Mason for a Mason. Brother William Wallace Dudley and his company crafted a limited supply of these 19 jewel solid gold watches. The Dudley Watch Company was only in business for five years from 1920-1925 but its patented design can sell for close to $3000.00 today.
You can also find a very unique hand blown engraved decanter displaying some features crafted by the lost art of copper wheel engraving.
How about a very unique Goat stein?
Or maybe you would rather visit with the Jerusalem Masonic Wage Box made of olive wood and crafted in 1887. It was a presentation of corn, wine and oil made to new Fellowcraft Masons. The box has three compartments. The middle compartment contains the corn(wheat). The two other compartments each have hand blown crystal bottles engraved with the Square and Compasses. One bottle contains olive oil and the other Jerusalem wine. If that doesn’t suit your fancy how about a Mother of Pearl Masonic Tea Caddy?
Then there is a very rare and different tool chest from Brother Henry O. Studley.
For a good laugh take a look at The Goat Riding Trike which could be ordered from the DeMoulin Masonic Lodge Supply Catalog.
My favorite is a hand painted early Masonic Shaving Dish. Around the rim is painted a cabletow and atop the Square and compasses in the center is a bow signifying the mystic tie. These are only a few highlights of what awaits you at the Phoenixmasonry museum.
Phoenixmasonry’s librarian, Wor. Bro. Ralph Omholt has scanned many old and rare Masonic books, manuscripts and lectures. These expensive works can now be downloaded into your home computer free of charge. Select from, to name just a few, Denslow’s “10,000 Famous Freemasons, Mackey’s “Encyclopedia of Freemasonry”, Gould’s “History of Freemasonry Throughout The World”, Mitchell’s “Masonic Histories”, Dudley Wright’s “Women In Freemasonry”,“The Kabbalah Unveiled” by S.L. MacGregor Mathers, “The Lost Keys of Freemasonry” by Manly P. Hall, “The Theocratic Philosophy of Freemasonry” by George Oliver, “The Illuminati (1776-1784), A Concise Report”, “A Series of Letters on Freemasonry” by Hannah Mather Crocker, “The Mysteries of Freemasonry” by Captain William Morgan, “The Writings of George Washington” by George Washington and the Masonic Monitors of Preston & Webb. Then there are the works of Rob Morris, “A Well Spent Life”, “The Lights and Shadows of Freemasonry”, “Freemasonry in the Holy Land” and “Masonic History of the Northwest.”
The E-library continues to grow. New additions to the collection of the Masters of Masonic authors are being added all the time. Other favorites that should not be overlooked are Anderson’s “Constitutions”, Carl Claudy’s three works on the explanation of the three degrees, “DeMoulin Masonic Lodge Supply Catalog No. 138”, Wilmshurst’s “The Meaning of Masonry” and a complete collection of the “Builder Magazine”, a most sought after prize. Actually every E-book in the collection is a gem and it takes forbearance not to get carried away in listing them all.
A special section on Prince Hall is a new feature on the Phoenixmasonry website. It features six You Tube videos showing the William H. Upton memorial unity march in 1991. Upton was the Grand Master of Washington State who recognized Prince Hall Masonry in 1898. You won’t want to miss this defining moment in history.
Lately some selected works of writers of today have been added, most in essay form. “Laudable Pursuit” is a giant of a work penned in the 21st century. Wor. Brother and Kentucky Colonel Ian Donald from Canada adds a most enjoyable paper, “A Charge By Any Other Name Is Still A Charge.” The Masonic service Association of North America is there with its latest survey of the state of American Freemasonry and its recommendations for improvement. And a number of papers by Wor. Brother Frederic L. Milliken can be found, the most notable being “World Peace Through Brotherhood” and “Native American Rituals & The Influence of Freemasonry.”
You might think that is the whole story of the Phoenixmasonry website but you would be wrong. Other interesting facets of the site include:
Masonic Poems & Essays
A breakdown and description of Fraternal Bodies in America
Masonic membership statistics for the USA and Canada
A biblical history of King Solomon’s Temple
Ancient fonts
A Masonic glossary of terms and symbolism
A look at some charities and how to get involved
A Masonic Gift Shop and Store where one can even order Masonic Teddy Bears
A How To Section – from how to conduct a Table Lodge to how to conduct a Masonic wedding.
Phoenixmasonry looks forward to you joining us in celebrating ten years of service to the Masonic community and continued Masonic research, education and dissemination of Masonic knowledge. You can do all that by making that cyber trip to http://www.phoenixmasonry.org and living its motto – “spreading enlightenment – one web surfer at a time.”
American history is intricately tied to the history of Freemasonry.
One such crossroad was the Anti-Masonic Party that dominated early American politics between 1827 and 1838. But where did the Anti-Masonic party find its inspiration? When you dig into the shadows and rumors of the past, the answers start to take shape in a jig-saw puzzle of post colonial American life, politics, and scandal. And in those hidden recesses, the real story begins to emerge.
Important to say is this early political party did not form out of a passing distrust of Freemasonry, but rather from a tragedy that is today known as The Morgan Affair. At the center, William Morgan, was a man of many trades with a reputation that preceded him, and it is from that reputation that the door of Masonry was darkened. What led up to the Morgan Affair necessitates us to answer the question:
William Morgan and the rise of the Anti Masonic Party
Was William Morgan Murdered by Masons?
This question is an important one, as in the years following his death American Masonry plummeted nearly to extinction because of his mysterious disappearance. To be a Mason, then, was to be a pariah in society and whose disappearance still ripples in present day conspiracy circles around the world.
In this episode of Masonic Central, we talk with Stephen Dafoe, the author of the new book Morgan: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry as we explore the Masonic cold case murder of William Morgan and explore the “who, what, and why” of this tragic (and momentous) event that became a fire brand to the fraternity and the rally cry to the Anti Masonic Party.
This is a special hour and a half long program aired on Masonic Central on Sunday June 14, 2009.
Also Read: The Lie Rob Morris Told on the aftermath and conspiracy of the William Morgan murder.
I just happened to open CNN this morning and the story of the Shrine Hospitals is front page news. For any Mason following the media, it isn’t the story on the Jesters, or in membership, its the very real and distressing story of the potential closure of 6 of its 22 hospitals, following the loss of $3.3 million dollars in the stock market crash.
Obviously, this will affect a large number of people in a very negative way, and no one wants to see it come to pass.
The challenge that they face, however is such that potential options include letting Shriner’s hospitals themselves accept insurance or Medicaid from those families who have it covering the co-pays and deductibles or having Shrine doctors perform major surgery at partnered hospitals, and allowing insurance to bill what it can, then cover the rest.
The challenge is losing oversight in the work performed and having to follow Federal oversight curtailing the ability to treat as they see best.
Since its earliest inception, the Shrine is still a significant contributor to the hospitals which also accepts outside contributions and donations. Today, the Shrine arranges and pays for the transportation of children and parents to the hospitals and donate time driving families to the hospitals and entertaining the patients.
Additionally, Shriner’s helps support the hospitals financially by paying an annual $5 hospital assessment assessed in their dues. Various temples and clubs also hold fundraisers to contribute to the hospitals.
Originally founded in 1922, it has, in the past 20 years, had more than 8,000 physicians who have received residency education or postgraduate fellowship in their facilities. The Shrine is a adjunct unit of Freemasonry, pulling its membership from the roles of the Craft Lodges.
Given the present situation, and the continued decline in membership, It leaves me wondering if this will be the straw to break the camels back in the separation between the two fully developed organizations and allow the Shrine to further its aims.
Memorizing Masonic ritual has long been an important part of carrying on the work of Freemasonry. Those that masterfully perform Masonic lectures have long been revered as prestigious members of the fraternity and have been pointed out as men worthy of emulation. However, while many Masons have relished the opportunity to memorize one of the lectures, many have avoided such an undertaking.
In modern times, it isn’t unusual to hear Masons say things like “I sure wish I could perform lectures like that” or “I’m going to memorize that lecture one of these days” without ever taking the time to actually do so. Some cite the inability to memorize, which is true in some cases, and others claim that they don’t have the time. It often seems like the few Brothers that are willing to memorize a large part in the ritual end up memorizing all of these parts, while the majority of Masons avoid memorizing anything above and beyond the minimum requirements.
This is a frustrating observation, but the point of this article isn’t to demean the Brothers that haven’t learned a lecture. Instead, it is meant to show those Brothers that haven’t done so what they can gain by making the effort to learn one of the prominent parts in Masonic ritual. The key to becoming motivated to memorize ritual is simple: learn it for your own benefit, not the benefit of the lodge.
But what do I mean by this?
In all Masonic degrees, the lecture contains a vast amount of information that explains the ritual. In the three symbolic degrees, the lectures actually contain the majority of information given to the candidate in the degree. Like with all orations, the listener retains very little information from the lecture given to him when he receives the degree. This is a travesty, since this limits a Mason’s understanding of the symbolism of the ritual. To illustrate this point, think about a lecture that you have not memorized and then consider how much of that lecture you can actually recall. Chances are that it is little to none. In order to properly grasp the degrees of Masonry, learning the lectures is essential.
The Mason that has memorized a lecture has its teachings impressed upon his mind and his heart. The slightest reference to the symbolism of the lecture that he knows brings the explanations Masonry’s allegories to the front of his mind. A person that has not learned a lecture can never understand the full benefit of having this information memorized. It expedites and enhances Masonic study and often serves as a reminder when we are about to do something of an un-Masonic nature.
There is also another benefit to memorizing ritual. Most Masons regard their passage through the degrees of the order as one of the most impressive and influential experiences of their lives. However, there is a Masonic experience which supersedes receiving the degrees: conferring the degrees. Most Masonic lecturers have had the special experience when they see the light of Freemasonry shining in the eyes of the men to which they are reciting the ritual. To see the new candidates “get it” is an incredible feeling. It is the most fulfilling of any opportunities afforded in the fraternity.
Learning a lecture is hard work. Contrary to the misconception by many that those that learn lectures just read them once and are able to perform them, most men that have taken it upon themselves to memorize large parts of the ritual spend months memorizing the work and perfecting their recitation. But the work is worth it and learning a bit of Masonic ritual is like riding a bike, you never lose the ability to perform it.
Understanding Masonic symbolism and transmitting the lessons of Masonry form the instructive tongue to the attentive ear are the actions that preserve Masonry. Do yourself and Masonry a favor and dust off that ritual and take some time to learn a lecture. You will reap what you sow.
By Carlos Antonio Martinez, Jr., J.D., PH.D., M.A., 33º
The Chamber of Reflection… After being told a few words of warning calling for the reconsideration on the steps he is about to take, mysterious words bearing a contrasting and intimidating message of discouragement, the young candidate, compelled by either Conviction or Curiosity, decides to ignore such “warnings”, and valiantly enters that “cavern-like” room on the day of his initiation into the Craft. He immediately finds himself in the middle of a gloomy and obscure scenario – a small table with a skull and crossed tibia, a lit candle, a sand clock about to stop, and a few suggestive wall inscriptions complementary of everything he was forewarned prior to stepping into such a perturbing enclosure. Truly, this is a chamber of reflection.
He cannot help feeling like an unfortunate detainee of ancient times, locked in a dungeon awaiting his sentence. On the small table there are also a cup of water, a small piece of bread, and some salt, which seem to be the only food that he is entitled to ingest for being imprisoned. He instinctively asks himself “Am I a Prisoner?”; “I have not done anything wrong”; “I came here of my own free will and they throw me in here”; “How long will they keep me?”; “I have no idea, but, I want to get out, I want to throw down the towel and surrender in the second round”; “I give up”; I can’t stand it any longer”; “What is this about?”; “Why did they lock me up?”; “Is this how they make Good Men better?”; “Is this what they mean by Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth?”; “They are probably just having fun with me!”; “They have me in such a ridiculous and hopeless state!”; “One of my hands is tied, I’m barefooted, almost naked, without my belongings, and partially blind-folded!”; “My God, what’s next?”; “A ransom?”; “Am I being kidnapped?”; “Are all those sinister rumors about the Masons true?”…
… The young neophyte then recovers his briefly lost sanity, and focus his attention on some of the fluorescent phrases posted on the dark walls: “IF YOU ARE AFRAID, LEAVE”; “IF YOU ARE NOT CERTAIN, WITHDRAW”; “IF YOU CANNOT COPE, RENOUNCE”; All of the sudden, however, these intimidating and daring clauses give him the encouragement to continue on, to test himself, to confront and overcome his own fears, to subdue his vices, and to begin to truly know himself.
Suddenly, a man wearing a black robe hands him a paper with four (4) questions that he must answer in sixty (60) seconds. At that moment, the novice thinks – “Who, in my present state and condition, is going to answer this questionnaire correctly in one (1) minute?” – While reading the questions, he feels like a bucket of cold water has fallen upon him, slightly refreshing his already warm and confused mind. There are four (4) questions he must reflect upon: What is Man’s duty to God? Again, he thinks – “What, didn’t they say that, here, Religion is never discussed?” – He thinks for a moment and answers what he thinks is right. What is Man’s duty to Himself? “Dignity”, he replies. But, again, he cannot help to think – “What type of Dignity can I have or talk about, after being treated like a dirty rag?”. What is Man’s duty to his Fellow Beings? Without hesitation he replies – “Respect”. If your last hour arrived, what would be your Testament? This time, the young man’s face frowns and he thinks aloud – “A last will? “What are they going to do to me now?”; “I’m locked away in a room, I know nobody in this place, and I’m in the presence of human remains”; “Now, I truly feel uncomfortable!” – He stops, thinks again for a few seconds, and replies – “I’d give half of my holdings to my loved-ones, and the other half to people in need”.
He was given sixty (60) seconds, but, he feels as twenty (20) minutes have gone by; his anxiety begins to feel like asphyxia with an unmistakable sensation of claustrophobia. Suddenly, there is a distinct knock at the door, two or three different voices from without order him not to turn around, and, once more, he is completely blind-folded.
As he is taken away, he remembers reading a particular word with three points between each letter: V:.I:.T:.R:.I:.O:.L:. At that time, our young Initiate did not know its meaning, he probably even assumed that it was an unknown reference to God; But, in due time, he will encounter the latin phrase: “VISITA INTERIORA TERRAE RECTIFICANDO INVENIES OCCULTUM LAPIDEM”, which, semi-translated into English means: “VISIT THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH, THROUGH RECTIFICATION YOU SHALL FIND THE HIDDEN STONE”, and, then, he will realize that such word went hand in hand with everything he saw and read in that “cavern-like” chamber. Studying and analyzing further, he will find its significance, that of visiting and knowing his Inner Side/Nature, and submitting to a Self-Examination of Conscience with which he must reflect over his actions and deeds, and, thus, discover his Internal Self or Hidden Stone, the Philosophers Stone of the Alchemists, the Rough Ashlar of the Free-Mason.
The ancient Egyptian, Persian and Greek Sages adopted the custom of surrounding their teachings with enigmas that could only be contemplated in silence, and which expressed invariable and uniform principles that formed a perfect and harmonious ensemble that, at the same time, defined a ceremony of religious and secret nature needed for the Initiation and Training of all Priests and Priestesses who desired to unravel these enigmas. These enigmas comprise all that relates to the developing possibilities of the human state that culminate with that which has been called “Restoration of Primeval State”, and these are nothing more than a preparation for The Great Mysteries which appertain to the realization of the super-human states, and conduct the Initiate toward states of spiritual order until reaching the Supreme Identity. Thus, the new adept is brought closer to the hidden truths of the divine.
All the Philosophers of antiquity were disciples of an Initiation, being Progress and the Foundation of the Mysteries what enabled them to liberate themselves from the chaos of superstition. In those times, only the Mysteries could liberate Men from barbarousness. From these mysteries were derived the doctrines of Confucius, Zoroaster and Hermes Trismegistus. Such were the timeless characteristics of the Ancient Mysteries, that fragments of these teachings have reached Modern Freemasonry. These influences are found in the various different Rites of the Order. In all these mysteries we find a common factor indicating a same origin, the ceremonies of initiation were all funereal in character featuring a mystical death and resurrection, and the trials were conducted in the darkness of the night – the aspirant had to be examined, tried and purified in order to attain Wisdom and Light.
In the Mithraic-Zoroastrian mysteries, the neophyte was subject to a rigorous fasting and to a series of tests and trials, where the methods of exciting awe and fear varied ingeniously; all types of sounds and noises were simulated, the roaring of ferocious animals, the explosion of thunder, lightning, lashings with sticks, lamentations, screams of horror or pain, and the sensations of heat or cold were also implemented, by having him/her swim in rivers of strong current and walk through blazing areas. All these tests and trials lasted between twenty-four and eighty days, at the end of which the candidate was introduced in an real cavern. These initiation caverns were small in size, their walls and ceilings were painted with astral signs, and represented the world, the dual movement of the planets, and the passage of the souls through the celestial spheres. Once inside, the candidate was caused to walk through a ladder or bridge along which there were seven doors, each made of a different metal symbolizing the respective attributes of every planet. This Ladder was posteriorly adopted by the Jews and featured in the mythical dream of Jacob, and, presently, it is an indispensable symbol in a number of our Masonic Degrees. As the climax of the ceremony was nearing, the new adept was conducted to a larger room where he/she underwent some type of Baptism, and was finally prepared to receive the Seven Lessons that would constitute the completion of his/her Initiation. In due time, this particular ceremony began to be implemented by almost every Mystery School, until it made its way into Masonic Rituals in the form of “The Ante-Room” or “Chamber of Reflections”.
In the Higher Mysteries, celebrated in Elleusis during the month of September, these ceremonies lasted nine days, and were held in honor of the Goddesses Demeter and Persephone. The Temple was divided in three parts: the “Megaron” or Sanctuary (corresponding to the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple of Solomon), the “Anactoron” or Main Hall (equivalent to the place of collective prayer), and the Underground Chamber located right below the temple. The Infernal Regions and/or Punishment for the uninitiated impious one was symbolically represented by this Underground Chamber, and it was reminiscent of an episode in the drama of Demeter, Persephone and Pluto. Within the walls of this temple, the beliefs and teachings of a celestial life after death were earnestly imparted to their “Adoptae” or Accepted, and thus expanded to the more profound studies of Cosmogony and Anthropogenesis.
In the Druid Mysteries, almost entirely native to the regions of Britain and Gaul, their rituals, brought from Greece by Scandinavian route, required the Initiate to undergo much physical purification and mental preparation; their First Degree was conferred by inflicting a symbolical death on the aspirant, which, culminated in his/her attainment of the Third Degree or regeneration, at which point he/she was placed on a boat symbolizing his/her readiness to sail-off on life’s journey.
The formidable Egyptians, Mayans and Incas used to leave the Initiate alone, locked inside the actual funereal chamber of a pyramid, lying inside a coffin and surrounded by mummies and other lugubrious emblems, so that he/she could reflect on the steps about to be taken – that unless emerging triumphant, such failure could cost him/her the permanent loss of his/her freedom.
Following these ancient initiatic customs and traditions, divesting the candidate of all personal clothing and removing all minerals and metals from him, the Profane is caused to find himself alone with his own values before a first symbolical approximation that invites him to meditate over the vanities of existence, and warns him of mere curiosity as he seeks membership in our Order.
In modern Free-Masonry, the chamber of reflections is equivalent to the alchemical siphon, where the Recipient shall experience transmutation by means of the conjugation and regulating of his/her recondite energies. The Profane “descends to the Infernos”, he must die first, in order to “resuscitate” and attain the light of Initiation. There he shall leave the dealings of the exterior world, there will be an interior abstraction, like the original matrix, so that he can emerge from the depths of the earth (the chaotic dense matter) to the subtleness of the spirit.
This place is also representative of both Macrocosm and Microcosm, in other words, of the Universe and Man. In it, there are manifested four levels or superposed planes where the basic elements of Alchemy are found – earth, fire, water and air. The first level belongs to that of Fire, the primordial element for the work of transmutation; the second and third levels belong to those of Water and Earth – the transforming substances, and the fourth level belongs to the element of Air, the subtlety of gases related with transcendence.
It is particularly important to underline the use of certain phrases inscribed upon this chamber’s walls; these phrases bore messages such as: “IF MERE CURIOSITY HAS BROUGHT YOU HERE, LEAVE!”; “KNOW THYSELF!”; “DUST YOU ARE AND, AGAIN, DUST YOU SHALL BECOME!”; “TO DIE, YOU WERE BORN!”; “TO BETTER EMPLOY YOUR LIFE, THINK OF DEATH!”; “IF AVARICE GUIDES YOU, GO AWAY!”; IF YOU PAY HOMAGE TO HUMAN DISTINCTIONS, LEAVE, FOR HERE WE KNOW THEM NOT!”; “IF YOU FEAR TO BE REPRIMENDED OVER YOUR DEFECTS, DO NOT PROCEED!”; “IF YOU LIE, YOU SHALL BE EXPOSED!”; “IF YOU ARE AFRAID, WITHDRAW!”. These inscriptions are precisely inviting us to “visit the entrails of the earth”, in other words, to effectuate an introspection of our personalities, by being capable to “rectify”, to separate the dense from the subtle, and, thus, to find the “hidden stone” of the Philosophers, the True Philosophers Stone where the Profane’s real capacity for transmutation resides. For the Free-Mason, the transformation of Led or Rough Ashlar into Gold or Cubical Stone; the manner by which Man and Woman become the object of “The Great Work”.
The disorder and obscurity that prevail in the Chamber of Reflections, giving the appearance of a sepulchral cave, furnished with symbols of death and destruction – a skull and bones, is equivalent to being submerged in the center of the earth, from whence we came and ultimately shall return. Of all four elements that reign in Nature (Earth, Water, Air and Fire), Earth is the first that we must “overcome” during our Masonic Initiation. Our momentary stay in the Chamber of Reflections makes us remember the State of Ignorance in which we humans find ourselves, before knowing one fundamental principle of the Masonic Order: “YOU MUST DIE IN VICES, TO BE BORN IN VIRTUES!”; Or, like Joshua Ben Joseph, alias: “The Christ”, allegedly stated: “HE/SHE WHO IS NOT REBORN, WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!”.
Just before stepping into the Ante-Room, we deposit our material valuables with our Bro:. Exp:. , in order to symbolically enter in a State of Original Purity, making effectual solely our True Values – Moral and Spiritual, glimpsing a new path-way, and disappearing our exterior bonds and considerations to be indefectibly open for a New State of Conscience. This, is the place where two worlds separate, the Profane and the Sacred; This is the critical point where Palingeness (Rebirth and/or Transformation) begins; The return to Life, by finding ourselves and self-divesting of our old personalities (egos and masks), recuperating our authentic being, which, in turn, shall conduct us to the True Initiation, to the Progressive Realization of our being, subjecting to examination our Will and Purpose of Advancement.
Being within that confinement, isolated between those dark walls, the Free-Mason-To-Be completes the strengthening and maturity of his soul, aided by the reflection upon that which surrounds him – the first symbols open to a Candidate’s view.
The ability to “reflect” is most necessary in a Free-Mason’s life! Reflection, per Philosophical Tenets, is the faculty of the human spirit through which the individual retreats and concentrates on him/herself to examine the phenomena subjected to his/her observation. Reflection is so important, that everyone who lacks the capacity of it, is totally incapable of comprehending the mission entrusted to him/her; he/she becomes toy and/or victim of his/her errors and/or passions – giving, instead, to the one who has developed it, an extraordinary superiority in intellectual and moral concepts. Reflection is a complex faculty, by which the active conscience illustrates and completes the Knowledge that the state of spontaneity had left in darkness and confusion.
The Man or Woman who reflects, bothers him/herself solely with matters that take place in the interior of his thoughts, finding him/herself forced to self-isolate from all exterior occurrences that besiege him/her, and to impede their access by suspending the function of the organs which perceive them. The Free-Mason who reflects, needs the retreat, the quietude, the darkness and the silence – to comprehend the phenomena of the spirit, and to clearly distinguish those invisible and impalpable objects concealed by light, and, which, only the silence of the night can reveal.
By proper use of Reflection, the Free-Mason is capable of perfectly distinguishing his thoughts, his ideas of Liberty, of Merit or Demerit. By aide of Reflection, the Free-Mason examines and judges his own actions, weights the consequences of the same, appreciates his moral character, and rejoices in discovering those noble qualities of the soul which, place him above all other creatures. Reflection teaches the Free-Mason the objective for which his glorious attributes call for, and lifts up the veil that concealed his destiny.
While in the Chamber of Reflections, the neophyte symbolically descends to the utmost dense and inferior; he finds himself in the darkness; he is in conflict with the duality of personalities – on one side, the material, composed of a physical body, and, on the other, the ethereal body, mind and emotions that he has constructed with his birth and with his particular circumstances; and, at a higher level, he faces the Elevated Personality, the Superior Individuality where he finds his true being, and shining right above it, is The Great Architect Of The Universe – so that before leaving the Ante Room, on his way to the Lodge Room, he can finally attain the Perfect Expression of the Spirit in the Physical Body.
Through the Ages, the Chamber of Reflection has represented the Initiate’s descend to the Infernos, the apparent death which precedes reincarnation, the re-encounter with a new life, and the Sun defeating the Autumnal Equinox, and rising victorious from its battle against darkness in the Equinox of Spring.
Brothers, a revision and additional embellishment of our Over-Simplified ritual, is most necessary, and way over-due. Our new Brethren must experience what some of us, unfortunately, did not. Our more philosophically and esoterically-inclined “New Breed” of members will cherish the experience of reflecting before seeing the Light. They will treasure the instant when called upon to reflect on their duties to God, to their fellow beings, and to themselves, just like our fore-brothers did, ages before there was even any grouping of four “Non-Operative Masonic Lodges” and their controversial merger into another “Grand Lodge” in England.
The ritualistic lessons of our Craft must be as vivid as possible. Our neophytes must go through the experience of being locked in that room, so that they may confront their own fears and demons. Fears and Demons that, perhaps, they are not aware of. The appreciation, skill, and habit of Reflection must be inculcated in the New Free-Mason beginning on the day of his Initiation. He must be taught to know himself better, to pay more attention to his vices and virtues, and to know the “true secret” on how to successfully polish his “rough ashlar”.
Now is the time for us to pause and “reflect”! … Many times, man fails to use the virtue of Reflection, and even goes through life without ever using it, until his final moment arrives; and, finally, he remembers that he has conscience, and meditates on what has been of his life up to that instant. We, as Free-Masons, should not make that mistake with the same frequency. Unlike the uncultivated, the Profane and Indiffferent Mason alike, we must look into ourselves, see through our Third Eyes, and think before acting.
Thanks to this “catacomb”, feeblemindedly omitted from our present rituals, we, Free-Masons, are what we are, and will be what we will be. In the Chamber of Reflection we are all reborn, and thus we learn to apply to our lives that wise adage that exhorts: “NEVER SAY WHAT YOU THINK, ALWAYS THINK WHAT YOU SAY!”
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. by Greg Stewart (2007) Available at Imagekind.
Reprinted by permission of Carlos Antonio Martinez, Jr.
Rather you will find a clear cut case made that female Freemasonry has been with us for many centuries in spite of the male dominated fraternity that has operated with blinders on and deliberately refused to acknowledge the facts of life. And so it would seem to me as Brother Kidd takes us through story after story of female Freemasons from as far back as the early 1700s for Speculative Masonry and centuries prior to that in Operative Masonry, yet very few of these women were known to me. And I would hazard a guess that I am not alone in my ignorance but that the vast majority of my compatriots in the fraternity share my lack of knowledge.
Right up front Brother Kidd let’s us know that this book is not going to pull any punches or gloss over any difficulties.
“I will tell you about women who managed to be made Freemasons (and not a few who tried but failed) in otherwise Malecraft Lodges. I’m going to tell you a story that many have tried – and largely succeeded- to suppress. I’m going to tell you the truth. I chose to ferret out these stories about to pass away from this generation; to recover that which is about to be lost and to seek the truth. Too long the stories of these women were suppressed, downplayed and denied. It’s past time to rescue those stories that still can be retrieved and to see that each of these Brethren in the Craft have their due.”
Kidd chronicles the lives and Masonic histories of Elizabeth St. Leger Aldworth, Hannah Mather Crocker, Henriette Heiniken, Mary Ann Belding Sproul, Catherine Sweet Babigton, an Irish Girl, Vinnie Ream Hoxie, Helene-Countess Hadik Barkoczy, Salome Anderson, Isabella Scoon and many others (recognize any names yet?).
But first she lays the foundation of factual history of female participation in Masonry in three chapters, one on women in medieval Mason Guilds, one on women in early Modern Freemasonry and one on Adoptive Masonry. I have dubbed these three chapters – Fact,Denial, and Recognition (that some outlet for women was needed).
We learn that from the 1200s on some women were admitted to the Guilds and a few even rose to be Master. In Operative Masonry Kidd documents women in the Operative Lodges with some even rising to the position of “Dame” or female Master.
Next she takes us through early Speculative Freemasonry where in the 18th Century women were locked out of Masonic Lodges and men perhaps feeling guilt over that decision or perhaps under female pressure steered women into Adoptive Masonry. Kidd tells us she thinks she knows the real reason for this hardening of heart, this exclusion of women.
“Though it may seem complex, the true reason is quite simple. Women of that period, like women in much of the world today, failed to meet a very basic requirement of admission into the Craft: they were not free.”
“This most compelling of reasons is seldom mentioned by Masonic scholars but it happens to be the true reason. It goes to the heart of several centuries of gender-biased history that can, and has filled volumes. All that need be gleaned from those well documented studies is why 18th Century Male Masons, for the most part, believed women so unfree that they could not enter even their own gender-based or mixed lodges.”
She goes on to say that it was James Anderson in his “Constitutions” who first put this into writing in 1723. Anderson wrote:
“The persons admitted Members of a Lodge must be good and true men, free-born, and of mature and discreet Age, no Bondsmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men, but of good Report.”(Emphasis Kidd’s)
Kidd interprets that thusly:
“It is no accident that Anderson placed women between these two categories of the unfree. The implication is clear. Women were no freer than slaves or men enslaved by their own passions. So far as Anderson and other Malecraft Masons of the time were concerned, a woman’s lack of freedom rendered her unfit to be a Freemason. Malecraft Masons of the time, whether they knew it or not, barred women from Freemasonry for this reason and only this reason.
All other theories are simply flawed attempts to justify the unjustifiable.”
The stories of the women Freemasons are well told and well documented. The one I found most intriguing while at the same time most telling was the story of Hannah Mather Crocker perhaps because I am from Boston. Hannah was born in 1752 in Boston. Her father Samuel Mather was a famous Boston preacher. And in time Hannah had a son named Samuel. I mention this because the library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is named the Samuel Crocker Lawrence Library. You would think therefore, as a Massachusetts Mason who visited Grand Lodge often, I would have heard of Hannah Mather Crocker. Never heard of her. But she was a most interesting lady and Mason. As a young woman she smuggled written dispatches in her undergarments to Colonial Major General Joseph Warren who also was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
Unlike many of the other female Masons in Haunted Chambers: The Lives of Early Women Freemasons who were made Masons after they had been caught eavesdropping or made Masons for protection during the Civil War, Hannah was legitimately made a Mason although we are not quite sure how that actually happened. It is well documented, however, that she was “Mistress’ (Master) of St. Ann’s Lodge which operated in Boston in the 1770s. It was the only known all female Masonic Lodge of the 18th century in North America. She was also a woman of letters having written “A series of Letters on Freemasonry” and works in other fields.
Hannah Mather Crocker corroborates the claim that there were female Masons for her existence as a Mason remains unchallenged to this day.
Some of these eavesdropping women of the later 1800s who were made Masons, when confronted, the members of the Lodge were said to have debated between two options, killing the woman or making her a Mason. Kidd makes a telling observation here.
“Further, in no part of Freemasonry has there ever been a rule that any nonMason who discovers the Secrets of Masonry must die. And yet this ‘rule’ turns up in many of these stories about early women Freemasons. Where could such a detail have come from?”
“I think it’s no accident that the idea of killing eavesdroppers begins to turn up in these accounts after the William Morgan affair in the United States. In that case, Freemasons were accused of killing one of the Brethren for threatening to reveal the secrets of the order. Somewhere in all this, it seems to have become a generally held belief, even among rank-and-file Freemasons, that there was such a rule. And, thus, it entered the lore that envelops the stories of these women.”
There are two general things I am looking for when I read a non-fiction book.
Is it factual and well researched
Did I learn something – new
Haunted Chambers: The Lives of Early Women Freemasons passes the test for me on both counts. Karen Kidd has done a very thorough job of research for this book. I made it a point to read all the footnotes and I can attest to the fact that she pulls from many sources inside and outside the Craft to make her story. She doesn’t embellish to make it look better. If a rendition or report or opinion is exaggerated she says so. If it seems not plausible and it’s not she says so. But if it smacks of unbelievability yet she thinks she has the proof to credit it, she will.
She also writes using a good measure of deductive reasoning to make logical assumptions. If A=C and C=B then A=B. One of the book cover pictures is of a mysterious woman in Masonic garb from Phoenixmasonry about whom nothing is known. Here is a good example of Kidd’s powers of logic and reasoning. She writes:
“Much can be observed about this image but conclusions are difficult to draw. Clearly, she is garbed as a Master Mason. Her clothing, with its mini-mal bustle, slim-tailored sleeves and skirt short enough to reveal her feet all suggest a fashionably dressed lady of the late 1880s.”
“Her working tools present a puzzle of place. While the 24-inch gauge is almost universal in Freemasonry as a working tool of the Entered Apprentice, the trowel is a Master’s tool in US Malecraft lodges but not in English, Canadian, Australian, and Scottish Malecraft lodges. Further, the trowel is mentioned only in passing in most Co-Masonic Blue Lodge traditions. However, placing her in the US as a woman Freemason in the 1880s seems most unlikely as Co-Masonry did not arrive in the US until 1901.”
“The ‘G’ in all the squares and compasses on her clothing is striking. The symbol is portrayed in this manner in most US and Scottish Malecraft lodges. It is also used in French Freemasonry. However, it is not used in English or Canadian Freemasonry. Again, the US and Scotland seem unlikely but even in France, it’s much too early for a woman to be a Master Mason as Co-Masonry didn’t develop there until the 1890s and Femalecraft Masonry until the next century.”
“She is also wearing a wrist watch with a leather band, which again places this no earlier than the 1880s.”
“So who is she and how did she come to pose for this photograph? All elements in this image indicate it simply should not exist in that time or place. And, yet, there it is for us to ponder.”
And that my friends is some good writing and using your noodle!
But what really makes this book so enjoyable to read is that Karen Kidd writes with the confidence seen with those people who are knowledgeable in many different areas of discipline and thus she can pull together history, art, fashion, religion, journalism, fraternity and other areas to establish the proper context and background to events and happenings. Consequently the reader not only gets a well put together story but also the story behind the story.
Masonic historian W. Fred Vernon is quoted as saying:
“……..and I have no doubt other ancient Lodges have their lady members just as ancient buildings have their haunted chambers.”
Well my chamber which is not haunted will have this book prominently displayed as part of my collection. It should be in your library also. I highly recommend Haunted Chambers: The Lives of Early Women Freemasons.
. The book presented the argument that Morgan was not abducted and murdered by Freemasons, but deported to Canada at his own request. It is little surprise that the story, as told by Morris, was joyfully received by the Masonic fraternity and became the foundation stone upon which other Masonic writers would build their version of the tale, a tale that is accepted and repeated by North American Freemasons to this day.
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as we explore the Masonic cold case murder of William Morgan and explore the “who, what, and why” of this tragic (and momentous) event that became a fire brand to the fraternity and the rally cry to the Anti Masonic Party.
by 
She also writes using a good measure of deductive reasoning to make logical assumptions. If A=C and C=B then A=B. One of the book cover pictures is of a mysterious woman in Masonic garb from Phoenixmasonry about whom nothing is known. Here is a good example of Kidd’s powers of logic and reasoning. She writes: