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.
It has long been The Beehive’s contention that what one Mason, one Lodge, one Grand Lodge does reflects on us all. If we do what is good and righteous the perception of each of us is favorable and if we do what is immoral and vulgar the perception of us is unfavorable. But what one does reflects on us all. This is why it is my business what other Freemasons do or do not do. In Mainstream Masonry the actions of West Virginia and Arkansas Grand Lodges directly reflect on the perception of the rest of Mainstream Masons wheresoever they may be dispersed.
Particularly devastating to the reputation of Freemasons can be the action of bogus, clandestine and irregular Freemasonry with the exception, in my opinion, of female and Co-Masonry. Most of these male bogus Lodges and Grand Lodges are breakaways, knock offs and even outright dishonest scams. As such many lack the discipline that the apparatus and numbers of Mainstream and Prince Hall provide their members – for the most part a system that enforces the morality and good name of the Craft.
That is why a recent story from a bogus Grand Lodge in Maryland was so important. The Baltimore Sun reports:
Raucous parties at Bolton Hill lodge draw complaints
Neighbors ask zoning board to rein in Hiram Grand lodge
Bolton Hill community leaders pleaded with Baltimore zoning officials Tuesday to prevent a fraternal lodge from holding late-night parties, saying that the raucous gatherings are destroying the character of the neighborhood.
City Councilman William H. Cole IV, who represents the area, clutched a sheaf of fliers for Hiram Grand Lodge events that featured scantily clad women, promises of “top shelf liquor” and names such as “Love & Lust Pre-Valentine’s Day event.”
The lodge is currently zoned as a residential property, and authorities say it has violated the zoning code by renting the facility for large parties.
The lodge does not have a liquor license, and is barred from charging a cover or charging for alcohol. But police, Cole and community leaders testified that they had witnessed parties that violated those provisions.
Members of the lodge, an affiliate of the Masons, built the multi-purpose center 12 years ago with $900,000 in state bond money, according to testimony and state documents. Since the lodge is a nonprofit, it does not pay property taxes
Here is a good example of what others do is my business. This bogus Grand Lodge is located on the 1200 block of Eutaw Place in Baltimore, Maryland. The real Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodge is located on the 1300 block of Eutaw Place. I am sure that the general public along with the reporter that wrote this story have no idea of the distinction between the two Grand Lodges. So Prince Hall Maryland is going to take a certain amount of flak for what went on at the Hiram Grand Lodge.
The lesson here is that it behooves every regular Freemason to make sure that they make the distinction between real Freemasonry and unauthorized knock offs. It would have been wise for the Prince Hall Grand Lodge to have a public awareness committee appointed by the Grand Master that could swing into action when situations like this occur. This committee could have asked the Baltimore Sun for a follow-up article explaining the Masonic differences. It could also have been there the night that the police were called in to quell this raucous disturbance to hand out pamphlets to explain the differences in the Grand Lodges, that is if Prince Hall Maryland was ready with a handout already printed for just such an occasion.
And a parting word to the wise: If you are thinking of joining Freemasonry or you are already a Freemason and are invited to visit a strange Lodge by a friend, ask to see the charter. This will not be a corporation charter from a civil state agency. This will be a charter issued by a duly recognized Mainstream or Prince Hall Grand Lodge that is so deemed to be a true and regular Lodge by a consensus of its world-wide peers.
“Many Brothers are not aware of the importance of their regularity because in some cases it has not affected them in any personal way. Some view this Fraternity as something as a club, common organization or some social society. One of the biggest problems when dealing with regularity is the ignorance of many who choose not to educate themselves, especially concerning their legitimacy or their illegitimacy. Both are crucial in that if the one who is regular understands not the importance and how it affects his communities and the world abroad, he is blind of the imposters who raid his communities with the falsehood disguised as charity. On the other hand many who are irregular or even part of a clandestine body do not know the origin of his Grand Lodge/Lodge, and are hoodwinked with false pretense that he has join a respectful organization whose main objective and cause is for the upliftment of humanity, never noticing fraud or deceit. Many good Men have been sucked into these organizations by way of ignorance. “
Don’t you be one of them. Educate yourself and others around you and when and where you can let the general public know the difference between legitimate and illegitimate Freemasonry.
Taken mostly from “The Truth is Stranger than Fiction” By Bro. Alphonse Cerza, Masonic Service Association, 1934.
Masonic Register from 1876
At one time, Golden Lodge #5, Stanstead, Canada occupied a lodge room, which straddled the boundary between Canada and the United States. There were entrances on both sides of the border.
Washington Chapter #3 of Portsmouth, NH announced its meetings via the town crier, who received from 6 to 25 cents for his work.
In 1872 the Commissioner of Patents held that the Masonic emblem could not be used in a trademark or trade name for commercial purposes.
In Hammer v. State, 173 Indiana, 199 (1909), the Supreme Court ruled that it was a criminal offense to wear the emblem of any society or organization of which one is not a member. The court based its decision on the fact that the membership in such societies is the result of fitness and selection and that the wearing of such emblems by non-members is a deceit and false pretense.
In Robinson v. Yates City Lodge, 86 Illinois, 598 (1877), a court ruled that an expelled Mason was not entitled to the return of his degree fees. The court held that the plaintiff voluntarily paid the fees and the expulsion under the provisions of the rules of the organization does not constitute the rescission of a contract under which the fees were paid.
Frederick A Bartholdi, a freemason, designed the statue of Liberty which stands in NY harbor. The Grand Lodge of NY laid the corner stone on August
5, 1885.
Bernard Pierre Mangam, Marshall of France and Senator was appointed Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France and served from 1862 to 1865. This is unusual because he was not a Mason. He was appointed by Emperor Napoleon III.
The letters of the English word GOD are the first three letters of Hebrew words for beauty, strength, and wisdom. G in Gomez, O in Oz, D in Dabar.
In 1860 in Limerick, Ireland, there as found a stone in a small chapel, dated 1517, with the following inscription: “I will serve to live with love & care, upon the level, and by the square.”
Francis Stephens, the Duke of Lorraine, received the first two Masonic degrees in 1731 in a special lodge convened at The Hague, Holland, becoming the first known royal freemason. Later he received the third degree in England. In 1735 renounced his title.
Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine was a member of Concorde Fraternelle Lodge of Paris and a member of the French Assembly. He obviously invented the device that bears his name and was later executed with one.
The Rev. William Dodd, first Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England, was hanged for forgery on June 2nd, 1777.
In 1839 the Mormons left Missouri and settled in the area of Nauvoo, IL. On October 15, 1841, the IL Grand Master issued a dispensation to form a lodge at Nauvoo. On March 15th, 1842, Joseph Smith received his first degree and the others shortly after. Certain irregularities were reported – in five months the lodge initiated 256 candidates and 243 were raised. After investigation, the Grand Master revoked the dispensation, but the lodge continued to work. On April 5, 1844, the Mormon masons dedicated a Masonic Temple. IL Masons got in trouble for taking part in the ceremony. Opposition to the group and internal dissension led to the assassination of Joseph Smith and the removal of the Mormons from IL.
Operative Lodge #150 in Aberdeen, Scotland is unusual in that it is only open to operative stonemasons.
Dr. Edward Jenner, in 1789 discovered the vaccination process against smallpox. He was worshipful master of Faith and Friendship Lodge #270 in Berkeley, England at the time.
In July 1863, Confederate raiders rode into Versailles, IN, capturing the local militia and stealing the county treasury. The next day, General John Morgan (CSA), learned that his men had also made off with the jewels of the local lodge. They were returned the following day. Morgan was from Daviess Lodge #22, Lexington, KY.
Wheelock Commandery No. 5 in Texas had all 55 of its members killed serving in the Confederate Army. The Commandery ceased to exist.
Missouri’s first Confederate Capitol was the Masonic Building in Neosho, MS. From here the legislature passed the Act of Secession.
USA General Thomas Benton, also Grand Master of Iowa, ordered Federal troops to protect Albert Pike’s home and prevent the library from being burned, when his troops took Little Rock, AR.
July 2, 1751, Ferdinand VI of Spain issued an edict against Freemasonry. Father Jose Torrubia secured a special dispensation from the Pope, joined a lodge, secured the names of its members, and proceeded to have them arrested. Hundreds were arrested, persecuted, and imprisoned.
When Mussolini gained control of Italy, Masonic lodges were declared illegal and the Grand Master was arrested, tried, and imprisoned, where he died.
Mussolini also ordered all Masonic references removed, including the emblems on the base of Garibaldi’s monument in Rome.
After the restoration of the republic, fascist emblems were removed and the Masonic emblems restored.
In Fascist Spain under Franco, it was a crime to be a freemason. Masons convicted had to serve prison terms equal in years to the number of Masonic degrees possessed. Master Mason – 3 years.
Winnedumah Lodge #287 of Bishop, CA holds its meetings at 270 feet below sea level, the lowest lodge in North America.
In 1954 Martin’s Station Lodge No. 188 of VA was opened 952 feet below the surface of Cumberland Mountain in Cudjo’s Cave, which lies between Cumberland Gap, Tenn. and Middleburo, KY. 345 Masons were present and a MM degree was conferred.
Chicago, IL has three American Legion Posts whose memberships are entirely Masonic.
All four Presidents of the Republic of Texas, David Burnett, Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones, were Masons.
Between 1737 and 1779 two sailing ships of interest operated off the U.S. eastern seaboard, Freemason and Master Mason.
The Freemason caught fire and sank in Marblehead Harbor, Mass in 1779.
On November 10, 1928, the Grand Lodge of California held a special communication at Culver City, to lay the corner stone of the Masonic temple. The lodge room was so crowded that the Grand Lodge officers were unable to enter. They retired to the Ladies’ powder room to open the grand lodge for the ceremony.
In 1801, Czar Alexander I of Russia banned the craft. In 1803 he rescinded the order and became a Freemason. But in 1822 he again ordered Freemasonry banned in Russia.
In May, 1843, a group of representatives from fourteen Grand Lodges met in Baltimore, MD, with the view of adopting uniform Masonic rituals. The meeting was presided over by John Dove of VA; Charles W. Moore of Mass. prepared the proposed ritual. The convention’s work was not generally accepted.
In 1799, Barton Lodge in Upper Canada accepted “good merchantable wheat” in payment of lodge dues.
Lodge St. George in Bermuda has rented an old state house since 1816 from the Governor for the sum of “one peppercorn per year.”
Abraham Jones served as Grand Master of Kentucky 1833-34 and Grand Master of Illinois, 1840-41.
Dr. Carlos Rodriguez-Jimenez was grand master of the grand lodge of Venezuela in 1947.
In 1957 he became the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Japan.
In 1892, the tallest building in the world was the Masonic Temple at Randolph and State Streets, Chicago, IL.
Brother William Brockmeier (1866-1947) of St. Louis conducted 5586 Masonic funeral services.
Thomas Jacob Shryock served as Grand Master of Masons in Maryland for 32 years. He died after being elected to serve his 33rd Term.
The largest Master’s chair is in Ophir Lodge #33 Murphys, CA. It is 15 feet long and can seat the Master, living Past Masters, and visiting dignitaries.
On June 7, 1921, Mystic Lodge #21 of Red Bank, NJ had conferred half of the MM degree on brother Lyman C. Van when the power went out. He didn’t receive the rest of the degree for several weeks, making him for a time, a “two and half degree” mason.
When the great Obelisk of Alexandria (Cleopatra’s Needle) was moved to New York in 1880, there were discovered certain emblems on the original foundation and pedestal. One is clearly a square, causing some to conclude that Masonry existed in ancient Egypt. This issue is still open to debate.
The two structures in the U.S that have elevators which move sideways, in addition to up and down are the Arch in St. Louis and the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria.
The Grand Master of Mass. commanded rebels at Bunker Hill while the Grand Master of England commanded English forces. The G.M of Mass. was killed.
On August 23, 1879, Lodge #239 of France held a meeting in a balloon flying over Paris, at which time a candidate was initiated.
On his famous solo flight across the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh wore a square and compasses on his jacket as a good luck piece. He was a mason.
Richard E. Byrd and his pilot Bernt Balchen, both brothers, dropped Masonic flags over the north and south poles. Brother Balchen also tossed his Shrine Fez on the South Pole.
Gordon Cooper, in his Mercury capsule, carried a Masonic coin and a blue Masonic flag on his 22 orbit flight, which he later presented to his mother lodge.
Montana’s first livestock brand was the Square and Compasses and is still in use. It was registered by Poindexter & Orr of Beaverhead County, MT in 1873.
Andrew McNair, a Philadelphia Mason, rang the Liberty bell in Independence Hall of July 8, 1776 to call the people together to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The bell developed a crack when it was rung for the death of Chief Justice Marshall, Past Grand Master of Virginia.
Grand Masters generally have the power to make “masons at sight,” which means the Master can do away with the formalities such as filing of petitions, waiting periods, etc. Some famous Masons who were made include: William H. Taft, General George Marshall, and General Douglas MacArthur.
In the 1800’s several grand lodges established Masonic colleges. The most successful of which was in Hannibal, MS in 1847. Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Georgia all tried it but all were eventually closed due to lack of support.
In the spring of 1966, brother Dallas Coleman of Denison Lodge #373 of Kansas was digging a pond when he came across an overturned gravestone marked with the Square and Compasses. Research lead to a determination that it belonged to Brother Henry Craig (1832-1862) of Valley Falls Lodge #21. The brethren of the lodge reset and cleaned the monument and erected a fence around it to keep livestock away and continue to maintain it.
Lyndon Johnson took the first degree of Masonry on October 30, 1937 but never progressed any further.
Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House took his first degree on August 7, 1922. He died in 1961 without receiving the second.
Warren G. Harding was initiated on June 28, 1901 and it took him 19 years to complete the other two.
Lodges in Mass. have no numbers.
In Penn. there are 11 lodges that have numbers but no names.
In Georgia there are two lodges with the number 1.
In Maryland, Tennessee and Penn. there is no lodge with the number 1
Masonic Place Names in the US: Anchor, IL, Beehive, MT, Boaz, AL, Charity, MS, Circle, MT, Cowan, TN, Emblem, WY, Eureka, WV, Faith, SD, False Pass, AK, Fidelity, IL, Five Points, AL, Freeborn, MN, Grand Pass, MS, Hiram, MA, Hope, AK, Jachin, AL, Justice, IL, Lodge, SC, Mason, KY, Masonic Home, KY, Masontown, WV, Square, MT, Steward, IL, Symbol, KY Temperance, MI, Tyler, TX.
Hiram Abiff Boaz, born Dec. 18 1866 in Murray, KY. Received his degrees in 1922 before an unusually large crowd and served as Grand Chaplin (TX) in 1953.
Joseph A. Gilmore (1811-1867), former governor of N.H. was made a Mason at sight on April 28, 1863. He received Scottish Rite degrees and was awarded 33rd degree on May 7, 1863 – only 9 days later.
Between 1890 (when it became a state) and 1951, every Governor of Wyoming, except one, was a Mason. The one, Mrs. William A. Ross, was the wife of a mason and a member of Eastern Star.
Every President from Tenn. was a Mason (Jackson, Johnson, Polk)
President FDR raised two of his sons on the same night, Nov 7, 1935 – Architect Lodge #519 in NY.
In 1951, while President, Harry Truman served as Master of his lodge.
Sacramento Chapter #3, Royal Arch Masons has supplied 4 governors of CA. (J. Neeley Johnson, Lantham, Pacheo, Hiram Johnson)
William Hesketh Lever Lodge #2916, England was the only lodge named for a non-mason, the first Viscount of Leverhulme (the soap manufacturer) who was first initiated there and later formed Leverhulme Lodge #4438.
Paul Revere was a Mason, as was his cohort, Robert Newman, who hung the lantern in the Old North Church.
Angelo Soliman, was born in Africa in 1721 and brought to Europe as a slave at the age of ten. He was educated, married, and became a favorite in the royal court in Vienna. Somewhere before 1771 he became a mason. When he died 1776, the Emperor had his body stuffed and mounted in the Natural History Museum, becoming not only the first black of African birth to become a mason, but the also the first mason to be stuffed, mounted, and displayed.
John Aasen of Highland Park Lodge No. 382 in Los Angeles, CA was the largest known MM ever raised. At the time he was 8.5 feet tall and weighed 536 pounds.
Charles Stratton, a.k.a. Tom Thumb, was 24 inches high and weighed 16 pounds when raised in 1862.
Theodore Parvin was Grand Secretary for Iowa from 1844 to 1901, except for 1852- 53 when he was Grand Master.
When asked of Masonry, President William McKinley explained: “After the battle of Opequam, I went with the surgeon of our Ohio regiment to the field where 5,000 confederate prisoners were under guard. As soon as we passed the guard, the doctor shook hands with a number of prisoners and began passing out his roll of bills. On the way back to camp I asked him, ‘Did you know those men?’ ‘No’ ‘But you gave them a lot of money, do you expect to get it back?’ ‘If they are able to pay me back, they will. It makes no difference to me; they are brother masons in trouble and I am only doing my duty.’ I said to myself, ‘If that is Masonry, I will take some of it myself.'”
Washington was actually offered the position of President for life. He was also offered the same position in Freemasonry, namely Grand Master for life of a National Grand Lodge. he turned all such offers down and in the process set precedents that chartered the future course of not only his country but his fraternity. What other leader has had the opportunity to lay such groundwork on such a grand scale in multiple venues? You got to believe that Washington’s humbleness and his refusal to let his ego overtake the principles and virtues that he had fought for so hard is somewhat attributable to having been a Freemason and the obligation that had on his commitment to righteousness, virtue and morality.
When we think of the Three Great Lights the first one that comes to mind is the Volume of the Sacred Law. It is our rule and guide and in many jurisdictions it is opened to the passage that belongs to the degree the Lodge is working.
Next one would think of the Square. It is also the Master’s symbol and we always part on the Square. In addition throughout Freemasonry everything needs to be squared. In the world of the uninitiated we think of a square deal or a square person.
Lastly comes the Compass. Very little is said about this third Great Light other than than its use is to circumscribe our desires and keep our passions in due bounds. Yet without the compass the square might not exist.
Let us ask at this point what is the fourth part of a circle? And how does one get a perfect right angle? Perhaps the Compass is instrumental in the attainment of these ends. Maybe it is not such a third rate symbol after all.
Today’s elucidation on the subject comes from Brother Wayne Anderson of Ontario Canada. He says that whoever wrote this paper made it feel like a play. Squire Bentley says, Aye, but it could use a few more characters. Brother Anderson offers a weekly Sunday Masonic Newsletter in which many fine educational and historical Masonic information can be found. If you would like to get on Anderson’s mailing list please contact him at wda_572@sympatico.ca
The Third Great Light
Author and Date Unknown.
Many hundreds of workmen are laboring on a great building –a Gothic cathedral which one day will be a poem in stone, a hymn to the Most High, a glory of architecture which will enthuse and make men reverent for a thousand years and more in the future.
There are many Fellows of the Craft; expert cutters of stone and layers of ashlars. Some build flying buttresses; some carve intricate and beautiful designs for the interior. In a hut nearby–it is called by the good old English name of “lodge”–the Kings’ Master Mason bends over his plans and draws his designs upon the trestleboard, as did Hiram Abif in the long, long ago.
A knock sounds upon the door. To his impatient “Enter then, and be quick,” a lad pushes upon the portal and stands bareheaded before the Master Workman of them all.
“Well, well? What is it, thou? I am busy upon the King’s work…”
The ‘Prentice bows his head. “Honored Sir,” he begins, timidly, “Full seven years have I served; now I would make my Master’ Piece, and it please you to let me try.”
The King’s Master Mason lays down his work and turns, interested.
“So! Seven years- how the days do pass Thou art young to be a Fellow of the Craft, surely!”
“A man grown, Sire. Twenty-one summers have gone over my head.”
“Hm. Twenty-one. ‘Tis man’s estate, but- art sure thou art ready? Art sure thou canst cut or carve or set the stone sufficiently well to pass the eyes of thy superiors?”
“Aye, Master, I am sure…at least, wilt thou look at thy records? There is naught against me. I have done thy bidding. I have brought no dishonor upon the Craft. I have labored long and with my heart as well as with my hands. I have paid attention…why, Master, thou thyself hath instructed me!”.
“Aye, aye. A good lad…I know. And so thou wouldst make thy Master’s Piece and be a Fellow of the Craft! There will be then, another lad enrolled as an Apprentice–in a year, mayhap, he will be entered on my books and become an Entered Apprentice, even as didst thou, so few days ago…”
“Six years ago, Master!”
“Six–or sixty–they are still few for the building of a Cathedrals Well, what wouldst thou of me?”
“Permission to try, Master…and that thou shouldst prove my square! ’tis old, old, and while I believe it to be true, I must e’en know it is true before I try for mine honor.”
The Master Workman nods approvingly. “Thou hast been well taught, in truth! To Work with an unproved square on important stone is folly. So be it. Thou hast my permission and- after the midday meal, bring me thy square.”
“Sire, may I see thee test it?”
“Now, now! Surely thou knowest better than that! How know I thou canst make thy Master’s Piece successfully? Show thee the great secret of the square? Ah, no, lad- not until thou hast much more of age and experience…but bring me thy square!”
It is after the midday meal. A few, perhaps, have eaten it upon long tables in the lodge. If a good day and warm, many have refreshed themselves without using as tables, stones ready for the setting. ‘Prentices have brought great flagons of cold water from a spring, hard by. Women from the town have carried huge baskets of food for the hungry workmen, and wives and daughters and mothers and sweethearts stand about chatting with their men while they eat. Then a bell rings and all go back to work – all except the Entered Apprentice, who, square in hand, stands again at the door of the lodge, knocking.
“Come in, thou–so! It is an old square, forsooth! Where got you it?”
“From Fellow Eben, Master–’tis he who has taught me much, and he who loans me his cherished tool. He believe it true, he and I, but we would be certain!”
“Eben–& good man. He would know soon enough if his square were awry. But wood doth warp and steel doth bend-I will test thy square. Be off with thee, and return in an hour!”
Pulling his forelock, the Entered Apprentice departs. What thoughts crowd his mind! The Master’s Piece he will attempt to make; what task will be set him to do? A rough ashlar to be made perfect? A stone carving he must labor over? Or will he be given twenty stones and a helper and told to build a wall, or start or complete a buttress? Whatever it is, he will have a true square. If he is to fail, it will not be because of a faulty tool. Well he knows how good work, true work, square work is tested when it is submitted by an Entered Apprentice as a Master’s Piece! Not easily do the Fellows of the Craft admit a newcomer to their ranks. The Entered Apprentice who is to become a Fellow must know his work. He must know his angles and his mortar, his gavel and his level and plumb. He must understand how to work a broached thurnel, and how to tap lightly on his irons or heavily to break a great piece of stone…stone costs much in time and labor to bring from the quarries and no false work can be permitted ’tis the King’s stone!
What goes on in the lodge? What mystic powers does the King’s Master Mason use to try Eben’s square? What a wonder it is, this great knowledge; this power to make a building grow where was but a pile of stones! A square is either square or awry. The tiniest fraction out and the walls lean, the stones seat insecurely the one upon the other. But with the square perfect, the stones can be perfect, the walls true, the building a lasting monument to God…Within the hut the King’s Master Workman closes the door and bars it.
Perhaps he has set a tiler or two to guard it– those who set tiles on roofs are less busy than the layers of walls. Sure that he is free from the prying eyes of those who might climb up to the open space beneath the eaves to listen-and, if it rains get thoroughly wet from the droppings from the roof, or from cowans who never built more than a low wall of field stones, huddled the one on the other to keep the cows from wandering–secure from prying eyes, the King’s Master Mason takes from its place his compasses.
Long they are and rough to look at, made of sturdy oak with an iron hinge, but with fair and true brass points.
Next a sheet of clean white parchment; ’tis costly, this parchment, but seven years! The King’s Master Mason shakes his long white hair about his seamed and lined old face. Seven years–one third of the lad’s life! ‘Tis worth it, even though parchment be expensive!
On the rough table he lays it, and weights its edges down with clean stones. With the compasses he scribes a circle upon it, a generous circle perhaps a cubit across. The sharp brass point scratches in the parchment so the circle is plain to see.
From his rack of drafting tools the King’s Master Workman takes a straight edge–finest work that Fellow Edwin could make. Long had he labored with the block of close-grained ebony, brought from across the seas, to make it true. Backed with strong ash, smoothed of edge, until like the silk that women wear in the East, and straight as the line that divides the sea from sky.
The Master sights along its edges, more from habit than distrust. Then with care he lays it across the circle, so that it touches the tiny puncture in the center made by the stationary leg of the compasses.
“Now, the square-point mark!” he mutters. “‘Tis no matter where I make it-the good God so made this mathematical wonder that I cannot fail, put it where I may.” With one point of the sharp brass pointed compasses he makes a dot on the circle. As he has said, it makes no difference where. Then with two shorter, straight edges connecting the dot on the circle with the circumference. Narrowly he looks.
“What? Do mine eyes deceive me? Is it really out of true?” He picks it up, again lays it down, adjusts it carefully. He looks again, first from above, then from each side. “Nay, I was wrong. They do coincide. Each is equally true–the square I have made by the secret and the power of the compasses–the square which Ebon has used–which now the young lad will use.”
The King’s Master Mason picks up his tools, rolls again the parchment and puts it away. “I could wish I might show the lad,” he sighs. “But it would never do. And likely he hath not the mind to understand. Indeed, who hath the mind to comprehend? What a wonder is the good God to provide such perfect ways to make things perfect. Now why, doth one suppose, doth a dot on a circle, when connected to points in a line with the center, become the juncture of a perfect square? Never a fraction of a fraction of an inch wrong! Always is the angle right the angle of the level on the plumb, a right angle indeed. Who comes?” as a knock sounds on the door.
“Tis thine officer who presides over the Fellows of the Craft – who but Hiram?”
“So. Enter then. I have but now tested Eben’s square for a lad who will try to make his Master’s Piece…”
“Would mine had been tested!” mourned Hiram. “Remember, Master? I did not ask for the testing of my square and it was not right angle, but an angle askew–it cost me a year more of Entered Apprentice Work before thou wouldst let me try again!”
The Master smiles. “Aye, I remember. Well, thou hast tested the tools oft enough since. But Eben’s square is true, a very right angle indeed.”
“While a square is circumscribed within the circumference of a circle, it is impossible that it materially err!” agrees Hiram.
“Aye, the point within the circle–the line across–the lines connecting –they make precepts which all Fellows must, and all men should, heed. Didst ever think, Hiram, that that applies to tools of brass and iron and wood, applies also to character and conscience and mind? Try the square by compasses, the circle, the point within it, the straight edge; so should man try his soul. Let the point be the individual. Let the circle be that boundary beyond which his passions and prejudices may not stray. Let the circle be a holy doctrine—he cannot, then, do any act which is not square, nor materially err in any conduct…”
“Tis a Pity all cannot know and understand, as dost thou!”
“Aye. But so it is ordained. The square is mine–mine by virtue of being the Master. It is for me to know, for me to try, for me to test the square. But the compasses-they belong to the Craft, since it is by the compasses that I do test the square which Craftsmen use!”
“Square and compasses!” mused Hiram. “All that glorious building, the most of which is yet to be, would never be, without the square and the compasses!”
“And neither square nor compasses would be possible without the wonder of the mathematics which God hath set in the midst of the compasses for the use and guidance of us, His Craftsmen,” answered the King’s Master Workman, reverently.
“Aye, aye, so mote it always be!” answered Hiram, bending his head.
“I Kid You Not” was the trademark of Jack Paar and the title of a book he wrote. There is much in the style of presenting one’s self in Karen Kidd that reminds me of Jack Paar, an infinite appreciation for what is worthy and noble in life with the emotion and the chutzpah to let the rest of us know what we are missing.
So it was with great joy that I reached into my mailbox to find the latest issue of Heredom, the Scottish Rite Research Society’s annual publication and within those pages see an article by Karen Kidd that immediately caught my eye – Hannah Mather Crocker: Patriot, Founding Mother, Freemason.
Hannah Mather Crocker is one of the most interesting historical figures of her day. And being a woman Brother Crocker is often overlooked. Perhaps she also has not come to the attention of many historians because she wasn’t an in your face firebrand, rather a mild mannered woman with a top notch education and a pleasing manner.
Hannah’s father was one of a long line of well known and prominent Puritan Preachers. Her mother was sister to Massachusetts colonial Governor Thomas Hutchinson. It wasn’t until her late twenties that she married to the Reverend Joseph Crocker. Before that marriage she had accomplished much.
At age twenty two she was carrying secret revolutionary dispatches to Joseph Warren, not only a Freemason and Grand Master but also a leading figure in the revolution. Perhaps that is why there was no hue and cry when she became a Freemason. Clearly some kind of dispensation was granted to her to form, with other ladies of her class, a Female only Masonic Lodge, St. Ann’s, shortly before outbreak of hostilities with the British. Crocker served for many years as Worshipful Master and Kidd tells us that she later wrote:
“I had the honour some years ago to preside as Mistress of a similar institution, consisting of females only; we held a regular Lodge, founded on the original principles of true ancient Masonry, so far as was consistent for the female character. We recognized the BROTHERHOOD as preeminent, as may be seen from several addresses and songs printed in the Centienel, and other papers.”
“One or two of them (male Masons) gave umbrage to a few would-be-thought Masons; but by the most respectable part of them we were treated like SISTERS. The prime inducement for forming the lodge was a desire for cultivating the mind in the most useful branches of science and cherishing a love of literature; for at that period, female education was at a very low ebb. If women could even read and badly write their name it was thought enough for them who by some were esteemed only ‘mere domestick animals.’”
“But the aspiring female mind could no longer bear a cramp to genius. They rose to thought, and clearly saw they were given by the wise author of nature, as not only help-meets. But associates and friends, not slaves to man. I have reason to think this institution gave the first rise to female education in this town, and our sex a relish for improving the mind…Our sole aim was friendship, and improving the mind; that by Strength and Wisdom, we might beautifully adorn the female character, and shew to the Brethren that we had obtained the grand secret, of securing the affections of our best friends by performing every domestick duty with ease and harmony. We had our tokens, signs and word; and within due Square we marked our lives by the parallel line of integrity.”
As we can see, Crocker was not just interested in Freemasonry nor did she use it to throw her attainment in the face of her male counterparts. She was a tireless worker for freedom from the British, for female education and for women’s rights.
But isn’t the reader about this time asking who made Crocker and the ladies of St. Ann’s Lodge Freemasons and who allowed them to exist along side of traditional male-craft Masonry without rancor or discrimination?
Kidd thinks it none other than the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Dr. Joseph Warren. She cites Crocker’s dedication of her literary work titled Series.
“To the protection and patronage of the M.W. Past Grand Master, the Past Grand Chaplain, and the present Officers and Members of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, this little work is now humbly dedicated, by the author, with the most ardent wish of benevolence, that every worthy member may square his conduct by the line of integrity.”
Clearly Crocker knew these people and travelled in their circle.
In 1780 Hannah Mather married another Freemason the Rev. Joseph Crocker of Taunton. In the 17 years of marriage before Joseph passed away they had ten children. Clearly he also knew of her Masonic exploits. And although her surmised benefactor, Dr. Joseph Warren, was long gone she still continued to travel in Masonic circles and to write about those experiences. Sometimes, however, she wrote under the pseudonyms of “A Lady of Boston” and “P Americana.” But to her list of credits we can also add the distinction of author.
While to all accounts Crocker was a mild mannered, genteel lady of exquisite manners, still she must have been some kind of woman for Kidd tells us about the “North Square Creed” that apparently husbands of St Ann’s members were asked to sign and which goes something like this:
“I believe woman is the ostensible source of man’s true happiness. I believe it was not good for man to be alone, and God in infinite mercy provided him a help meet. I believe a prudent wife is the greatest blessing man can attain in this world. I believe every man that has a prudent wife ought to harkent to the voice of Sarah his wife. I firmly believe it is proper and best for every man to believe in every thing as his prudent wife wishes him to believe. Therefor I do believe in every thing my good wife and the other ladies of this happy circle wish me to unite in believing.
In token of our approbation we here affix our names…
In the written records that Crocker left behind she left us only the initials of the men who signed the North Square Creed. One of those initials was P.R. Can anybody say Paul Revere? – Kidd brings to our attention. And even more telling she points out that the Mathers had many friends who were members of St. Andrews Lodge. Who were two of the biggest names who were members of St. Andrew’s? Why Dr. Joseph Warren and Paul Revere of course. So at what Lodge were Hannah Mather and her ladies friends raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason? You can answer that one.
Remember that Hannah Mather carried secret dispatches for the Colonial insurgents for which she could have been shot as a spy. The Southern California Research Lodge ties this altogether for us.
The building had been purchased by the St. Andrews Lodge in 1764. There was a square and compass over the front door and a copper Dragon that had turned green through the weather. It was a community center. Downstairs was the Tavern. Upstairs was the St. Andrews Lodge and the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (Ancients). It was the largest place for meetings in the north east end of Boston. Historians have called it “headquarters of the American Revolution.”
Here the Boston Committee of Correspondence was formed after a few initial meetings at Brother Joseph Warren’s house a few doors away. Here the Sons of Liberty held secret sessions. They wore a jewel around their necks and were known to have a separate language for recognition. The jewel had a picture of the Liberty Tree on it.
CAN ANYONE SAY BOSTON TEA PARTY?
In her waning years Crocker formed the School of Industry in 1813 for poor girls of the northern district of Boston, thereby once again reaffirming her commitment to women’s education as she had done at St. Ann’s Lodge.
Hannah Mather Crocker faded away in oblivion and so did St. Ann’s Lodge. Future Feminists and malecraft Masons were to ignore her contributions as a Patriot, as an early leader of women’s education and women’s rights and as a Freemason. Kidd laments the fact that that history has so ignored such a great woman. But to her credit, Kidd, has taken up the task of not letting this wonderful woman be forgotten.
Come ladies rare May we have strength
Within due square, To join at length
Let each renew her vow, The heavenly lodge above.
No timid maid Brothers to meet
Need be afraid Tho’ none here greet
Hew sacred knee to bow Them join in mutual love.
Sure Sheba’s queen The secret plan
The first was seen Held here by man
To gain this wondrous art. So far beyond our reach
She made the vow Shall to each fair
That we do now Within due square
And gained the wise king’s heart. Their love and duty teach.
Let none disclose In sacred love
To sacred foes We’ll join above
Our token works or signs. With widow, son and mother.
May beauty grace With one accord
Each lovly face We’ll join the word
And wisdom guide our minds To hail each sacred brother.
The Deepening of Fraternal Intolerance & Autocracy
There is a disturbing trend that has come back into American life. It is the return of INTOLERANCE. We can see it all across society in religious, political and fraternal settings.
In the religious realm I can think back to the post 911 prayer service held in Yankee stadium shortly after that terrorist attack. Religious leaders of various faiths, and within Christianity various denominations, gathered to lift up our concerns to the Almighty. The opening prayer was given by a Lutheran minister, Missouri Synod. The next day he was brought up on charges of excommunication by his church because he had participated with other faiths together on the same platform. This was considered a sin of religious pluralism, considering all faiths as equal.
Pope Benedict has slammed the door on a wink-wink disapproval of Freemasonry, going back to a full-fledged excommunication for Masonic Catholics.
In today’s society if you say the word God or display religious symbols you are accused of being offensive. Many Americans today believe that there is a right not to be offended. Yet what is offensive about another being different? Another person’s choice may not be my choice but I can certainly live with and even rejoice in celebration with other cultural, religious and political persuasions without feeling a need to eradicate them. Perhaps that is why I am a Mason.
If American society does not prohibit the open display of religious dress anywhere why does it feel necessary to prohibit religious expression of another nature? And why is that expression offensive? As a Christian it does not trouble me to witness a Hindu or a Muslim publicly praying and using the religious symbols of their faith. I rejoice that they love God. I have no desire to shut them up.
FOX News reports:
A federal judge has ordered a Texas school district to prohibit public prayer at a high school graduation ceremony.
Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery’s order against the Medina Valley Independent School District also forbids students from using specific religious words including “prayer” and “amen.”
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Christa and Danny Schultz. Their son is among those scheduled to participate in Saturday’s graduation ceremony. The judge declared that the Schultz family and their son would “suffer irreparable harm” if anyone prayed at the ceremony.
Judge Biery’s ruling banned students and other speakers from using religious language in their speeches. Among the banned words or phrases are: “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.”
He also ordered the school district to remove the terms “invocation” and “benediction” from the graduation program.
“These terms shall be replaced with ‘opening remarks’ and ‘closing remarks,’” the judge’s order stated. His ruling also prohibits anyone from saying, “in [a deity’s name] we pray.”
Should a student violate the order, school district officials could find themselves in legal trouble. Judge Biery ordered that his ruling be “enforced by incarceration or other sanctions for contempt of Court if not obeyed by District official (sic) and their agents.”
One can wonder if instead of freedom of religion we are now being forced fed freedom from religion.
And as we go from the religious to the political arena we hear that many Christian Evangelicals that would like to vote Republican in this year’s Presidential campaign will refuse to vote for Mitt Romney because he is Mormon. Now no one is asking Evangelicals to convert to Mormonism nor are they being flooded with Mormon religious doctrine. Yet they perceive Romney to be a personal threat from the mere fact that he will be making governmental decisions guided by what they view as from a heretical moral basis.
Meanwhile, even after all the assurances of a new age of non confrontational politics, those running for office this year are practicing the politics of personal destruction on an unprecedented scale. Millions more dollars than usual are being spent to trash the other side. If you think about what has been done to Barrack Obama, Sarah Palin, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, we can say that we truly are in the era of gangster politics.
Freemasonry need not copy the intolerant, autocratic, divisive ways of the profane, but it has. Mainstream Freemasonry has in direct contradiction to the principles and virtues of this gentle Craft which is all about bringing people together and of people of different cultures, religions, education, political persuasion, means and races coming together in peace and harmony.
Fraternally we have seen in the last 50 years an unprecedented increase in Grand Lodge power leaving the local Lodge little self autonomy. Grand Masters in some jurisdictions have been able to make many far reaching decisions without the vote of the body as a whole while at the same time violating their Grand Constitutions and by-laws with impunity. This consolidation of Grand Lodge power has followed two avenues.
1) Grand Masters will add into their Constitutions and by-laws provisions whereby they are the sole authority over all decisions made in their jurisdictions. Whether they do this by a vote of a Grand Session or just strong arm these changes directly into the Constitution makes little difference. Once endowed with such great power, they become answerable to no one.
2) Next they insert into the Masonic Obligations of their jurisdictions that all members of their jurisdiction must obey the Grand Lodge without question. No matter what the Grand Master does it becomes a direct violation of your Obligation to refuse to obey it.
Now the deal is sealed. You have sworn onto God that you will do whatever the Grand Master asks you no matter what it is. And failure to do so will be considered unmasonic conduct punishable by expulsion. There are some that say that even if you were to leave Freemasonry, demit, and not come back, that you are still bound by the wishes of your jurisdiction’s Grand Master.
So when you object to the Grand Master lying, cheating and stealing you are tried and convicted of unmasonic conduct and expelled. When your Grand Master says that you cannot write about Freemasonry, that you cannot talk to other jurisdictions and Obediences about Freemasonry, that you cannot put any Masonic information on Facebook or Twitter, that you cannot E-Mail other Brothers in your jurisdiction, you are required to obey or get booted out. And the justification for your dismissal is that you violated the Grand Lodge Constitution and by-laws and your Obligation.
Yet there is nothing inherent in Freemasonry that would force you to surrender your Civil Rights and the freedoms that you enjoy by right of being an American citizen as spelled out in the Constitution of the United States. Freemasons have always been tolerant “free-thinkers.” They have been the bastion of liberty and freedom, opposing both an autocratic government of monarchies and an oppressive church. The present day style of Masonic government is directly opposed to the principles of the Enlightenment from which it sprang and endorsed.
For the latest example of a long line of shenanigans by Grand Masters see: http : //masonicleaks.com/2012/02/arizona-turmoil/
None of this is possible without having the power of an enforced monopoly. Mainstream Masonry is a monopoly because it has declared itself to be one in the “Right of Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction.” Having eradicated all competition, Mainstream Masonry can proceed under autocratic rule without challenge.
Nevertheless competition is still there. And the way that Mainstream Masonry deals with that competition is to label it irregular, clandestine and heretical. Through the years it has tried to force that view on others by using the power of the civil courts.
Today, more than ever, as Mainstream Masonry feels the pinch of a declining membership, we can see the vitriolic attacks that it makes against others who desire to practice their version of fraternalism. Prince Hall Masonry, Female Masonry, Co-Masonry are other avenues of Masonic expression that Mainstream Masonry continues to persecute. Then there are a whole plethora of knock offs and copycats that adorn the landscape for which there is even greater derision.
Any Masonic website that features anything but the Mainstream line is ganged up on and trashed. Name calling and even threats by Mainstream Masons can be read on Masonic Forums and Masonic Yahoo Groups and on Masonic call in radio programs. Trash your non Mainstream Mason. Stick it to him! Try to hurt him any way you can. GUTTER FREEMASONRY!
Consider the fact that some Mainstream Masons attempted a coup d’état of a Masonic research and educational society open to more than just Mainstream Masons and when that failed they pulled out in mass and opened a competitive copy cat society but restricted it to those in amity with the Mainstream Conference of Grand Masters.
What happened to live and let live? What happened to let the best man or woman win? WHAT HAPPENED TO TOLERATION? Why must all competition be eradicated? What is wrong with someone doing it another way? Why is a Mormon or a Female Mason a threat to anybody’s way of life?
A good position can be made for Freemasons of all different Obediences restricting themselves to attending a tyled Masonic Communication of their own jurisdiction only. But there is no good reason for not enjoying joint ventures outside the Lodge room and of breaking bread together, of living together the Masonic way of peace, harmony and respect for each other.
Freemasonry has prided itself on two key factors for generations, one, that it is tolerant and two, that it is universal. Mainstream Masonry is neither.
The sad fact is that Mainstream Masonry never learned its lesson from the Morgan Affair. Not to learn from history is a crime. To repeat history is a tragedy. Mainstream Masonry may be resigning itself to a death wish.
I was coming home from work the other day and listening to the radio when the announcer said that the production of CDs was slowly being stopped. The era of the CD is over. Oh my, I wondered, what am I going to do now? And then I realized that I hadn’t even gotten rid of all of my 8 track tapes yet.
Now I know how my grandfather felt. He was born in 1881 and died in 1980. He once told me that he had seen the advent of what was then every modern invention, from the mass use of the auto, to the radio, to TV, the airplane, the refrigerator, air conditioning and on and on. When he started out his career in his 20’s he was a salesman operating out of a horse and buggy. Before he died he saw a man land on the moon. Now that kind of change can frizzle your brain.
Change is so prevalent today. Our President ran his first campaign on the slogans of HOPE and CHANGE. But it seems, at least to me, that the change that technology is bringing us is moving at a more rapid rate every decade or is that just my imagination? One can purchase the latest in technology and it is outmoded in what seems a flash. My first computer lasted me 10 years, my second only 5 years and my third will be replaced after 3 years.
Here is an idea of what the near future could see.
Electronics
From the mundane to the extraordinary, it seems every day a new piece of technology is released that promises to revolutionize the way people live. The Mind Lamp from Psyleron uses electron tunneling, a process that measures quantum-scale probabilistic events, to determine what color your mind is thinking about in order to shift the lamp to that color. For people who have trouble texting, the Android application “ThickButtons” anticipates which letters are most likely next when typing a text on a touch screen smart phone, and the program expands those letters to make texting easier. From the co-inventor of Twitter comes Square, an accessory that plugs into your smart phone that allows a mobile merchant to swipe a credit card anywhere they receive cell service.
Health
Thanks to advancements in the field of medicine, the quality and length of human lives continues to improve. Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles have engineered mesoporous silica nanoparticles that successfully increase the percentage of cancer fighting drugs delivered to tumors during chemotherapy. A vaccine developed by Pfizer called CDX-110 causes white blood cells in the body to target and destroy cancer producing cells in the brain. Two studies released in “The New England Journal of Medicine” have proved that the asthma pills Singulair and Accolate work as successfully in preventing asthma symptoms as steroid inhalers. Each of these inventions offer a chance to ease the suffering of individuals afflicted with these conditions.
Science
Recent developments in scientific equipment have allowed scientists to continue uncovering the mysteries of the universe. A half-mile underground in Geneva, Switzerland, is the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator designed to allow physicists to study the smallest known particles. Physicists hope to use the collider to recreate the conditions that existed immediately following the Big Bang. NASA’s Gravity Probe B has confirmed two key predictions related to Einstein’s theory of relativity by measuring the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and how much a spinning object pulls space and time when rotating.
Automotive
Researchers from Google have developed a car that drives itself automatically using artificial intelligence software. The car’s on board computer uses video cameras, radar sensors and laser guidance software, along with detailed maps, to navigate roads and traffic. The firefighting vehicle Amatoya has an insulated cabin that can withstand temperatures of more than 600 degrees, and is armed with dual high-powered water cannons that allow the vehicle’s crew to fight fires from within.
All this has me wondering of course about Freemasonry. While the world spins on a high speed hi tech mode of constant change, what is Freemasonry doing? Of course I don’t mean the message but the messenger. The tenets and virtues of Freemasonry are timeless as is its ritual. So the question is, are we really keeping up with the times in the deliverance of that message?
Could Freemasonry using technology actually hold a meeting online?
Could it do away with altogether its Lodge building?
Could it streamline itself into having all degrees performed at Grand Lodge, as part of a Grand Lodge session, three times a year for every Lodge in the jurisdiction?
Could its record keeping become 100% digital?
Could all the messages a Lodge or Grand Lodge needs to deliver to its members be done electronically?
Does Freemasonry make efficient use of websites, You Tube and E Readers now?
Does Freemasonry in your jurisdiction use Facebook and Twitter now?
Does your Grand Master, Grand Lodge officers and local Lodge Master text?
What I see now is also the death of the home PC and even the laptop. The younger generation is communicating by texting, reading from E-readers, and connecting to the World Wide Web and everything and anything via smart phones. If Freemasonry desires to connect with the present generation will they be willing to use the tools that this generation uses? And will they be able to communicate the timeless message of Freemasonry in a manner that today’s hi tech youngsters can receive? Or is change really a dirty Masonic word?
Reflecting on the last few years in Freemasonry, I have been remembering what a friend of mine always said, “Nobody knows who we are anymore.” This was always followed by an intense debate over modern Freemasonry’s use of Institutionalized charity to solve that problem. He thought all the charity work was great and just the thing to get Freemasons noticed. I thought it was too expensive and time consuming, taking away from the practice of Freemasonry.
If you want people to know who you are then connect with the community. This means getting active in the small local efforts to make your community better. One of the ways Freemasonry can get noticed is to march in a parade. Here you can see the Prince Hall Texas Masons marching through Dallas on Martin Luther King Day. Leading the group is Deputy Grand Master Michael T. Anderson (on the left, front waving), no stranger to Freemason Information regulars. He made an appearance on Masonic Central which is archived here.
If you want to be of service to those in your area clean a highway, spruce up a park or maintain a ball field. Or have your Lodge host a hero’s night honoring a special teacher, fireman, policeman, social worker or charity service group. Hold the honoring ceremony outside the Lodge, open to the public and invite the press. Another alternative is to run a blood drive offering a free breakfast to all who donate. If you have a hospital in your area regularly scheduled visitations to any and all would be most welcome. Local scholarships given by local Lodges, not Grand Lodges, will cement a friendly community relationship, provide a much better outlet for that Masonic charitable component and get Freemasonry noticed, all at the same time.
Where Freemasonry gets off on the wrong track is when it goes into big time, impersonal, costly and never ending charity – Institutionalized charity – aimed at everybody, to gain publicity. Or when Freemasonry runs costly television, radio and theater ads. Instead of making the product better they spend their money on trying to market Freemasonry. What they are trying to do is to increase the supply by hyping the demand when they really should be increasing the demand by hyping the supply. If that doesn’t seem to ring true, The Beehive will get Art Laffer to explain it to you.
The Mainstream Grand Lodge of Minnesota has announced that it will raise and donate $65 million to cure Cancer. A noble gesture for sure but how is this helping Freemasonry in that state? Think of all the more productive ways that money could be spent. The Grand Lodge could help any of its chartered local Lodges replace a costly building expense like a new furnace. It could run workshops and seminars to better educate the Brethren. It could pay for a speaker’s bureau to tour the state adding, in many cases, a much needed zest to boring business meetings. It could finance out of state large visitations beyond the budget of most Lodges. It could make the difference between a Lodge having to fold or a Lodge able to continue on. In essence Grand Lodge could do a lot to further the growth of Freemasonry and lead local Lodges in a more inspired, better educated and higher quality practice of Freemasonry. Improve the product and the membership will grow as a result of that effort. It is “Supply Side” Freemasonry at its best.
And Minnesota isn’t the only one who has chosen this path. The Mainstream Grand Lodge of Massachusetts now runs a massive health care system at multiple locations in addition to a very expensive CHIP program. Recently the Grand Lodge has doubled its Grand Lodge dues and fees that local Lodges must cough up, who in turn pass the burden onto the local Lodge Brethren. Many other Grand Lodges have similar such programs. This is “Vulture” Freemasonry at its worst.
What do massive charities, health systems and cash donations do for the advancement of Freemasonry within a jurisdiction? Why try to buy good will and notoriety when just practicing the virtues and tenets of Freemasonry will do more for you? If all the sweat, effort and money goes to marketing, advertising and financing others while bankrupting and diminishing Freemasonry, everybody loses. Why not try being side by side in the trenches with your community rather than an outsider trying to buy friends. And then go celebrate and march in a parade.
Before I went to bed on New Year’s eve I read a piece from a friend and Brother who said that he was going to spend his New Year’s day in contemplation of what he had done in 2011 and what he had failed to do and how he could make 2012 Masonically better. Did he visit and help Brothers in need often enough? Did he listen and think about those Brothers who had asked his advice and those that had whispered in his ear? Did he walk the extra mile, did he let anyone down?
He asks himself:
Did I hold true to my values all year-long? Did I lose a friend through lack of communication to too much of it? Did I do all that was required of me in time of need? Did I make new friends? Did I create any enemies? Did I leave something undone that I could have finished, and many more questions that I ask of myself.
These are some of the things that he was going to cogitate on.
On New Year’s morning I read a piece from Canadian Brother Wayne Anderson’s Masonic Newsletter – Sunday Masonic Paper No. 611 – where Brother Doug Gray pondered:
As we approach the count down toward the end of 2011; and the beginning of a New Year, it is a time many use for some reflection! I just wanted to remind everyone that although Masonry is well known as a “Progressive Science”; it should also be remembered as a “Reflective Science.”
The true purpose and value in Masonry is to gain knowledge of ones self; and his own relationship with God.
We must use our Lodge time as a place to think, to consider our fellow-man, to become “Human” and to gain “Wisdom”.
Looking inward is the place to begin, evaluate shortcomings with respect to our obligation, our charges and our commitment to the working tools or each degree.
Brotherhood is our vision in Masonry. How well do you know your Lodge and District Brothers?
Buddha taught: Man is so entangled in the “Tragedy of Life”, they are bound together out of sympathy in a “Brotherhood of pity…” Zoroaster taught: That Men are Brethren because warriors in battle between “Light and Darkness” a “Brotherhood of Battle…” Confucius: Brothers because of “common obligations”, a “Brotherhood of Service.”
In my practice of religion I am quite familiar with “centering prayer” which is much like meditation. You take a symbol, a phrase, an idea or a short scripture reading and you meditate on it for hours, making sure you clear your mind of all else. You contemplate the thought you have chosen, repeating it over and over and listening for an answer. If your mind wanders onto something else you force it back often by repeating out loud your chosen thought. Over and over, hour after hour until you have an answer. Where the answer comes from I am not going to get into. That is up to your own personal belief system.
So not believing in coincidences and getting pushed by my Angel I decide to do some Masonic centering prayer/meditation on the Masonic symbol of the Point Within A Circle.
I cleared my mind of everything but the Point Within A Circle and began. Soon I found myself in a closed maze where I went around and around. At one end I bumped into St. John the Baptist at another end the Holy Scriptures and at a third point St. John the Evangelist. But what was the message, what were they trying to tell me? Over and over I pondered and meditated.
After some time it was clear to me that I was being strongly urged to make a Masonic New Year’s Resolution – a commitment to accomplish something in the coming year.. But further meditation yielded no clue as to what that Masonic New Year’s Resolution should be. This was not going to be as easy as I thought.
Maybe this is where free will comes in. It’s all up to me. But I am not sure what I should choose. Perhaps you have some suggestions.
