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.
A few weeks back we explored the ideas of Social Media as it intersected with Secret Societies, creating the shift from restricted knowledge to an open communication in the 21st century -ciphers replaced with pixels and WYSIWYG editors. Today, Social Media has surpassed the expectations of those who declared it a passing trend and it has become a vital component of any individual or business that wants to build their brand and broadcast their message to an ever increasing audience.
This is more than Mafia Wars, Bejeweled, or What famous actor are you test. This is the creation and delivery of a messages and content that readers will grow to trust, will grow to rely upon, and will look to for opinion.
In other words, Social Media is not going away and that both For Profits and Non Profits need to understand the important role it plays in communicating their unique brand message. Why is participating in Social media important? By participating, organizations are able to project their own message and content and have conversations with other people about it.
Joining us this week on Masonic Central are two guests who are experts in the field of Social Media and Marketing Communication:
Br. Giles Crouch who has nearly 20 years of marketing communications experience, is co-founded of MediaBadger, a Social Media & Web PR firm. He is an active Mason for 10 years, and is presently Worshipful Master of Ad Astra Lodge in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Br. Glen Gilmore, better known in social media circles as “Trend Tracker.”. Glen is a social media consultant who is currently listed in the “Top 100 Twitter Elite” as established by TwitterGrader. He is one of the most followed people on Twitter focusing on the subject of social media. He serves as the Social Media Director for the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Glen has been a Mason for over 20 years and is also a member of the Scottish Rite.
Brothers Giles and Glen will compare notes with Dean and Greg on the growing role of Social Media’s message and brand building power and why it is a vital component to every non-profits strategy to connect with the world.
Join us for this special hour and a half long program on Masonic Central this Sunday, August 30th starting at 6pm PDT/9pm EST. For your questions and comments to the guest live on the air call: (347) 677-0936 during the program.
Also you can listen to the program live from our home at Masonic Central on Blog Talk Radio and join in with our live program chat, or from our player widget on our website at Freemason Information.
Business Writer Gary Hamel of the Wall Street Journal is a bit of an outsider when it comes to religion. His background is much more wall street than the pulpit. I have no doubt that in his life he has had some experience in regards to faith, but, based on his writing credentials, Hamel is a very serious expert on business.
So what was surprising to me was to read an article that he penned in the Wall Street Journal about a conference that he attended and spoke at for Willow Creek Community Church. The article appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s blogs section and was filed under the title “Organized Religion’s ‘Management Problem’”. And, in a nut shell, it analyzed the growing decrease in church attendance and the lack of shake up taking place in the churches at the front of providing the service to the attendees. Essentially, he addressed the lack of response by churches to the change in attendance comparing it to the business sector, where a business to act in the same manner when faced with the same problem. The analogy was simple, quoting from Hamel:
Organizations lose their relevance when the rate of internal change lags the pace of external change. And that’s the problem that besets many churches today. And guess what? A lot of secular institutions are in the same boat (Freemasonry). Think about General Motors, Sony, Motorola, United Airlines, AOL, Yahoo, Sears, Starbucks—how have these companies been doing in recent years? Not too well. And not just because of the recession, but because they got stuck in the mud; they fell in love with status quo. Their employees were prisoners of precedent, locked in jails run by the custodians of convention. …Your problem isn’t unique, and it isn’t materialism, atheism, skepticism or relativism—it’s institutional inertia. And if it makes you feel better, it’s not entirely your fault. Like leaders everywhere, you’ve been mugged by change.
The rant that Hamel goes into (his words, not mine) is a good lesson to learn from, and recitation of an old rally cry, that change is necessary, t least in some respect, and that from it, new growth can come. Quoting again from Hamel:
Historically, business leaders and church leaders didn’t have to worry about fundamental paradigm shifts. They could safely assume that their basic business models would last forever. In the case of church, this meant loyal pew-warmers who would show up every week, sit passively through the same unvarying church service, drop $20 into the plate as it passed, and politely shake the pastor’s hand as they headed off for lunch. But business models aren’t eternal—and their mortality rate has been rising. In industry after industry we’ve witnessed profound paradigm shifts . . .
There is a lesson to be learned here. Does the same business model from 60 years ago apply today? Hamel continued:
The Second Law of Thermodynamics applies to organizations as well physical systems. Over time, visions become strategies, strategies get codified into policies, policies spawn practices, and practices become habits. That’s organizational entropy—and it’s why success is usually a self-correcting phenomenon. And it’s also why the hard thing—the really hard thing, isn’t inventing a brilliant strategy, but reinventing it! Given all of this, the most critical advantage a church (or any other organization) can build is an “evolutionary advantage”—an ability to constantly morph and adapt.
And, drawing from Hamel again:
Moreover, it’s usually necessary to decapitate the old leadership team before an organization can embark on a new course. In other words, fundamental change in large organizations happens the same way it happens in poorly governed dictatorships—belatedly, infrequently and convulsively. And that’s pathetic. It shouldn’t take the organizational equivalent of a deathbed experience to spur renewal. We need to change the way we change. Over the centuries, religion has become institutionalized, and in the process encrusted with elaborate hierarchies, top-heavy bureaucracies, highly specialized roles and reflexive routines. (Kinda like your company, but only more so). Religion won’t regain its relevance until church leaders chip off these calcified layers, rediscover their sense of mission, and set themselves free to reinvent “church” for a new age.
Really, there are some very sound bits in here, that Freemasonry can learn from, or that it can learn from before its to late. I highly recommend you read the article by Gary Hamel, and if you find it worthy, forward it along to your Grand Lodge leadership. There is still time to adjust the rate of internal change before it lags to far behind the pace of external change and we get lost in obscurity.
You never know who you might meet when your out and about. One of the cool factors of Freemasonry is that pretty much anyone you meet who has the square and compass somewhere on their person is a person you can trust and that that you have an undercurrent of social commonality with one another.
As a quick example, I can’t keep count anymore of how many brothers I’ve met on my commute who fly our emblematic device on their bumper. And its a good feeling to be the company, even if sitting in traffic. Its an even better feeling when its in person and the brother that you meet is sporting a ring, lapel pin, or t-shirt. You know almost instantly that the person with wearing it is an instant friend.
But, that seems to be shifting, especially as the fraternity is mushrooming into the broader material culture and the symbolism is being appropriated for more and more non-Masoninc commercial endeavors and ending up as logos or devices for particular brands. This was evident a few weeks ago with the Angel and Airwaves logo for their new album.
Br. Hodapp posted up not to long ago a shirt lifted by Old Navy that used a wings up double headed eagle on one of its new shirts. But yesterday I had the first hand experience of encountering one of these T’s in the field and a startling realization came over me.
Anthony Van Engelen Square and Compass Tee
What I realized was the question of whether I could trust the person wearing the device or not as a brother. The reason the thought rolled through my head was because the mark wasn’t a subtle to headed eagle or a scimitar or star… No, what I saw was a new shirt out from Van’s Shoes apparel line under Anthony Van Engelen who is one of their Pro Skaters. A quick search on the web and I couldn’t turn up anything to suggest that Van Engelen is a Mason, more likely some off shore designer was building an apparel line and thought the design was cool and skater worthy and the picked it up for his “style” (to many years in the apparel/branding industry has jaded me).
So, the broader question I’m left with is that as the emblems that we use to know a brother in the “regular” world become more common as a design device, can we so easily trust the wearer as a brother, or does it erode the fraternities logos to be just another brand device to sell into pop culture? The easy answer is that you can still approach someone and ask if they’re a traveler, but does it signify on a deeper level a break down of Masonry’s control of its own means to unite men outside of lodge?
Maybe it just means that Freemasonry will be cooler in the skateboarder world.
This originally appeared in July of 2006 on the Masonic Traveler blog.
The interview was relevent then, but more so today as both the footprint of the fraternity and the DJ’s of the same name have grown in those three years.
Their website has changed, but you can now find them on MySpace, and their success has grown, touting now * 5 Consecutive UK Hit Singles, a Debut album ‘Unmixed’ which has gone silver, Grammy Nominations for their Remixes, and an international demand and following, so too has their list of performers that they have remixed Beyonce and Shakira’s “Beautiful liar” that hit the No 1 spot for weeks some 8 months in the UK, Kelly Rowland’s “Work”, as well as others
All of this under the name Freemasons. I thought it relevant in light of the Angels and Airwaves piece recently to revisit the last time I found something like this.
So, without further adieu, here is the original interview, and some updates on the music of the Freemasons.
Freemasonry is not a thing to be possessed. Nor is it something that is uniquely owned by anyone. As such, the influence and ideas of the ancient fraternity reach even beyond the walls of our ancient institution and seep into society at large. Does one influence the other? I would say yes, and can point to several institutions established on the Framework of Freemasonry. But that is not the purpose of this article.
Freemasonry is not limited to itself and is a part of society at large. One such example of this is the Electronic dance music produced by the DJ Remixers FREEMASONS (aka Freemaison). They are not a Masonic band assembled by a lodge or a Rite, nor is it a free formed band consisting of Masonic brothers. They are a product of the material culture around us.
Coming from the Brighton area in England, they are shaping a larger and larger presence for themselves and the music industry. So far they have worked with and remixed Fat Boy Slim, Marvin Gaye, Faith Evans, Heather Headley, and Jamiroquai to name but a few. Described as “modern disco”, Freemason is becoming a fixed urban name on the music landscape. One item to note, they go by the name Freemsons, but also with another spelling – Freemaison, which I took to translate into “Free House”, which is a liberating expression of their sound.
I spent a short time talking to James Wiltshire who is one half of the DJ collective who has adopted the name Freemasons. While not members of the fraternity, I think you’ll enjoy their answers and see one point that the fraternity has left its mark on our socities material culture.
MT: Who are The Freemasons (Freemaisons)? JW: We are Russell Small and James Wiltshire
MT: How and when did the band evolve? How did you come up with the Name Freemason/Freemaison? JW: We worked together on previous dance music projects , but about 18 months ago work stated in ernest as we watched the first single grow from a simple Underground level (on 12″ Vinyl originally!!) to a level that was going to gain entry into the UK singles market… As the promotion gathered momentum we named ourselves after The Freemasons Arms at the top of Russell’s road….
Brighton has a long masonic history (one of the largest lodges is just around the corner from the pub in question) … The building where our studio is (again in the same road) used to be an old coach house, and as The Freemasons arms has been a licenced premises for many, many years, perhaps the name of the pub comes from it’s signifigance as a meeting point. MT: Are any of you Freemasons? JW: If we were, would we reveal ourselves so easily?
MT: How, if at all, does your name influence your music? JW: Directly, our name probably does not influence our music… However, between ourselves – the creative engine of the project , Our record company (an independant called Loaded, based again in Brighton) and our manager, we are a group of people working hard and together, playing on each others strengths , and supporting each other to further our work and business… That does seem very similar to the ethos of the Freemasons….
Many months ago, when the band was in its infancy, I had to visit
London to remove myself from another project that was, in my opinion going in a direction I felt uncomfotable with. A young singer was involved and various business angles of a new recording were being kept from her, and I was going to have to compromise my beliefs in the way I like business to be conducted….
The meeting was painful and the conversation turned ugly….
On the train back to Brighton that night, I was quite upset to think that my chosen industry should be so full of deceit…. Five men came and sat around me moments before the train pulled off – they had been to a party thrown by the Mayor of London.
As we sped south, I overheard much of their conversation, work, jokes, memories of other nights out and even memories of times served abroad with the army…. One gentleman took a great interest in my laptop as he was thinking of buying his son one for christmas, and was facinated to find out I used computers to make music….. By the time the train was pulling into the station, I had cheered up no end – It’s very inspiring to know that a group of friends who had obviously worked together in some way for years, still had such great respect for each other…. As they left, their last conversations were of meetings at their respective lodges – I had just shared the journey with 5 Freemasons.
We had named our band they day before – Life has a beautiful way of showing you the correct path
MT: How would you describe your music to people who have never heard of you? JW: Soulful electronic dance music
MT: What is your creative process in approaching your music? JW: The creative process can take many courses…. It may be a simple musical idea or hook that triggers off an idea for a complete track, or the beginnings of a song … We are both
MT: What do you want to accomplish in creating it? JW: Sometimes, personally, the act of creation alone can be reward enough… we have both in the past completed a lot of music that has never really gone further than the ears of ourselves and our friends, but anyone creating wishes to have their work appreciated by others – we have been lucky enough to see that happen a lot in recent months… As dance music is designed to be played to an audience, and we have been able to watch the reactions ourselves as DJ’s , we are lucky to see the direct response in people… there is nothing quite like seeing a club full of people whoop and cheer when you play your own records and suddenly they start to recognise it from the introduction…. From a business level, we want to further ourselves and our profile, work with great musicians and singers and create even better music….. we often joke that we have the best job in the world – what we do seems to make people’s days better
MT: Does your audience influence your creative process? JW: Absolutely, without people dancing and enjoying our music , we would’nt be able to run a successful business…. trends and fashions within music might change, but people will always want to dance, we’ve just got to try and make records that they can dance to
MT: What do you feel are your greatest hurdles? Your greatest strengths? JW: One of the greatest hurdles at the moment in the music industry is the volume of sales – it now takes just 8,000 copies a week to gain entry to the UK top 20 and that is not enough to support single releases … Illegal Downloads threaten the integrity and quality of all music as if things carry on , there will soon be no financially viable retail outlets …. Working independantly also can prove difficult as the whole machine is now powered in favour of the Major lables…. Our greatest strengths however lie in the fact that we can make master recordings very cheaply now thanks to technology and that our music makes people enjoy themselves – Music can be such a release (as any good art form should be) – it is inspiring to hear from fans that they enjoy our work as much as we do making it.
MT: Any upcoming projects to watch for? JW:We have just completed a remix of Beyonce’s new single (see above for the video) – She has now reached iconic status within the music industry and we are very proud to have been asked … We have also completed a new single featuring the wonderful vocals of Seidah Garrett (who co-wrote Michael Jackson’s Man In the mirror and dueted with him on “I just can’t stop loving you” … the new single will be followed by a hybrid Compilation and artist album containing the best of our work to date.
My thanks to James who took the time in 2006 to answer my questions, and its good to see that their success has grown.
And their latest release, ironically (perhaps) its title is the ultimate message of Freemasonry Love is the Answer
For some background, Mackey says of the ritual that it is “… simply a lustration or purification by water, a ceremony which was common to all the ancient initiations”.
In the present day, the ceremony and ritual are designed to be performed in lodges wishing to baptize children of Masonic families. The ceremony is not a religious function, nor does it compete with the baptisms of the different religions of the world. Rather it is a solemn act of fidelity and a pledge to the children of Freemasons to signify that they are now a part of a broader community and that they will never be alone. Br. Porter’s work has brought the ritual back into a modern parlance and reintroduces us to this past practice in a modern era.
Reconnect with Dean and Greg, and travel with them through their summer adventures and this appropriate topic of the Masonic Baptism on this special hour and a half long program on Masonic Central this Sunday,August 16th starting at6pm PDT/9pm EDT. For your questions and comments to the guest live on the air call: (347) 677-0936 during the program.
On a video posted on the Modlife website for the band Angels and Airwaves (AVA) if you pay close attention to the beginning of the video you can see their new square and compass logo, melded with other iconography of the fraternity, mixed with elements of the bands name.
I just stumbled across this and don’t have much info, but it leaves me wondering what the intent was of using the tools of Freemasonry in the bands brand logo.
Their Wikipedia post has been updated to talk about the new logo and asserts that it is linked to the bands new album “Love”, saying of the new logo mark: This new logo…contains the Latin words “et plumbum mundus per lumen” which translates to “and lead the world by light”.
The new album is due out in February of 2010.
On July 27, 2009, Tom Delong blogged via Modlife: “We’re in the beginning stages of getting the word out that we have a new record and a movie called LOVE that will be released 2/14/2010”
I wonder if while borrowing the square and compass, their borrowing the concept of brotherly love too.
I’ll see what else I can dig up. In the Mean time, watch the Angels and Airwaves video with the log and tell me what you think.
If you’ve spent any time with a nose in the news, you know that the phenomenon of Social Media has become a staple of our way of life. Just the fact that your reading this blog, means that you spend some time on the web delving into the edges of web 2.0 and the tip of the social media iceberg. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and host of other blogs, e-groups, and outlets. But as the social net grows, where does the aspect of a “secret society” stand when enveloped in so much transparency?
In its broader sense, social media is the loose assortment of websites, blogs, and forum that the reader can post, contribute, follow, and send to friends, in essence, taking a role in the development of the life of the content being generated. In sharing it, the participant is now involved in shaping its meaning by contributing their own thoughts to the discussion.
This is different from the past where web pages were static and filled with one dimensional information. Now any reader can become a vibrant participant in a community of readers contributing their own input to the message. It becomes empowering to be able to share in the dialog of something you feel passionate about.
Many will say that social media was/is a passing trend in internet usage, but very quickly it is becoming a mainstay of our daily existence. To site a few examples, local news broadcasters have their own Twitter accounts, many agencies (governmental or non governmental) post updates and announcements on Twitter before they send press releases to the media, and businesses frequently utilize marketing guru’s to add and aggregate their content to their lists of thousands of followers. In many ways, it is taking a leading role in marketing an idea before it falls into past traditional marketing processes.
Seeing this seems to set it counter current to the idea of the fraternal secret societies that have evolved their particular brand of “not a secret society, but a society with secrets” practice. Really, you could say that the fraternity concept is a model of pre-digital social networking bringing in individuals to meet, mingle and grow their base of friends and associates. Just as in the contemporary social media set up, news is often shared and parsed for new ideas to grow and take shape.
This is exactly the practice takes place in the lodge rooms and social halls of Freemasonry.
How do we blend the physical and the digital? How does the society that defines its teachings as secret awaken to find itself in the modern age of digital correspondence, international friends groups and interested participants? And this only addresses those in the know, what about those outside the circle of knowledge about the fraternity, what about engaging those beyond the fold to raise awareness that the organization exists?
Social media will not be a silver bullet of marketing, but instead will be another tool in in the arsenal of ideas and mediums to communicate with. Doubtful will the secrets of generations be communicated or passed online rather than in person, but this boom of Gen Y culture will absolutely dictate how the Secret Society makes itself accessible. Maybe evening some respects cause it to stop and reflect on what exactly the secrets are and what they mean in an age when secrecy as such is little regarded.
Somewhere in the digital either is a happy medium of the knowledge that was once communicated mouth to ear but now very accessible to even the youngest of neophytes. Besides the scheduling of events and posts of meeting goings on is the next step in educating those of interest to know more. And it is in that space, between secret society and social media, that the real transformation of Masonic light will shine forth.
In the mean time, what do you think about the intersection of social media and secret societies? Where do they cross?
This story slipped under the radar. The burning taper posted on it, but sadly, someone found it distasteful and gave it a thumbs down on King Solomon’s agrigator.
But really, this raises SO many red flags and questions that it is really impossible to ignore. My questions is how, at his first arrest was he allowed to remain on the roles, and second, how is it he is still on them today?
The tag: A Shriner – known for his charitable work with children – is now accused of having a thousand graphic images and video of child porn.
Seriously, is this Freemasonry???
This came to me on Facebook, that I thought important to add…
“I did not catch the word “conviction”. I think they said the investigation started in 2007 but it sounds like it has not been to trial. I think he was probably arrested, bonded but not convicted (yet).
He violated the terms of his bond so was was arrested again (the arrest would probably have been for violation of the conditions of bond) for a bond violation.
I am sure they (the GL of Va) are waiting on a conviction for the child porn. Knowing the GM like I do he will be gone as sure as old faithful will blow again as soon as the conviction is handed down & GL gets a certified copy of the conviction in hand.”
State population: 36,756,666 as of 2008 (estimated)
About the Grand Lodge During the Gold Rush of 1849, thousands of settlers came to California in search of fortune. Those who were Masons brought their rich traditions with them, soon establishing some of California’s first Masonic lodges in the mining towns of the Gold Country. In 1850 — the same year that California became a state — the Grand Lodge of California was established in Sacramento.
The Grand Lodge of California does not have a listing on Wikipedia.
The site includes a brief history of Freemasonry’s origin there, and includes a fun interactive time line of Freemasonry in California.
Some of what I found on my excursion there:
The Grand Lodge of California website
The Grand Lodge site has a very strong URL (freemason.org) which gives it high presence in search engine placement for the term Freemason. Upon a simple search of the term Freemason, the California Grand Lodge ranks as the #3 for that search term.
Visually, the site it very clean and crisp with an immediate appeals to the eye. Both bright and interactive it has a strong professional presence. At the first load of the page is an attention grabber flash image of George Washington laying a corner stone that makes a quick transition from black and white to color introducing a number of interactive boxes for the visitor to explore. In those boxes are several of the elements that Freemasonry promotes including Tolerance, Personal Growth, Family, Philanthropy, Ethics, and Freedom. Each of the images are click able to display an image and an aphorism to the virtue and a member that exemplifies it.
Overall the layout is straight forward and in the places where it needs to delve deep with pull down menus with links to additional pages.
Visually, the site does not link overtly to the state of California in that the graphics could easily be extended to any other state with a quick change of the name California. Using the image of Washington in such a prominent position distracts from the prominence being on the state instead emphasizing a small part of Masonic history.
Prominent on the page at the top is a link to news and events which with a quick click hover over opens a list of items to select from (though disappointedly not events). In the list are several choices of interest to many, including past issues of the California Freemason magazine, press information, and the Grand Masters itinerary. What I did not find was a calendar of events, at least listed as such, as upcoming activities were listed under “news”. In the news section I did find an article on the websites award of excellence for its design and content. (Congratulations!)
The site itself is very flexible as it is a custom build with a great deal of development potential. In many respects the site has been developed out to the extent that it needs to be, as it covers most of what the Grand Lodge needs to communicate including contact info of the Grand Lodge, its leadership, its charitable endeavors and scholarships, public events, and member information.
Informational Content:
The Ca GL site definitely gives you your times worth of material to look at. What makes the content work is that the various sections are short and to the point for what they communicate. In some instances, it leaves the reader wanting more (as in the history), but in most it gives just enough to encourage the reader to take the next step, such as the How to become a mason | information section. It also transitions well from talking about California Masonry and how to become one to a link for “more info”, which takes you to a detailed and smart form for the user to fill in. Interestingly, it does not put as the priority the request to become a member, rather weaving it into it in to the offering of choices making it less about the conversion and more an informed reader’s choice.
One feature that I do like is that each page carries the navigation to the other pages and makes ones visit there easy to get around. This is a function of the sites navigation (both the top and the side) that one can jump from page to page as they explore the site. It also uses the right side to feature ad blocks of relevant items for the visitor to click, such as the upcoming 150th Grand Lodge communication and opportunities to charitably give. Again, this is a very smart way to entice the visitor (both mason and non) to explore and find out more information.
Something I did not find were a variety of external links to sites not immediately tied to the grand Lodge. This is good in that it keeps the traffic on the site, but bad in that it does not illustrate partnerships or even California lodge sites. My guess is that it functions to keep an unbiased position for one site or another and keeps the specter of bias away from any particular site. This is good and bad in that it keeps bias out (good) but fails to illustrate the breadth of the fraternity in the state, country, or world. Under the related organizations tab there is a list of many Appendant national bodies and links to their websites.
Generally, the informational content is very good, being both enticing and informative setting the tone that Freemasonry in California is a strong and vibrant institution with lot of history and goings on, always giving enough information to make the viewer want to find out more.
Look and Feel. As I mentioned above, the site is very crisp and clean, with a smart and professional look, while not being overly conservative or “institutional”. The use of warm colors (deep reds, warm grays, with spot photos) definitely makes the pages inviting to the eye. Even the mix of serif and san serif fonts is effective at differentiating between the artistic branding and the content. There is definitely some thought that has been put into the site, which is very evident in its details.
Overall: From a first time visitor’s point of view, I think that the Grand Lodge site would be very well received and make a very valuable impression on them as to the organization. It is clear, warm, and full of information. It does not try to overtly convert the reader into becoming a member, but rather seems to take the viewer on a journey into the site and its wealth of information. And, on every page is a constant link on how to join, which is a suitable conversion point amidst all of the sites content.
The flip side of that equation is the returning visitor or the member’s visit, which is just as meaningful and interesting. Because there is a frequently updated news section, there is something to continue to come back to regularly and often so as to stay up-to-date on the goings on around the state. With so much content going in, what seems to be missing is a way to subscribe to the news, which could be easily remedied with an RSS feed from it or a newsletter sign up form, which seems just a step away from connecting the site to its membership. Because it necessitates the frequent return trip to pick up the news, it runs the risk of not reaching all the members who may come across the site because the updated news is buried three links in on the news & events section. Moving the news (via a feed or site dynamics) to the front page would easily transform the site from a single destination to a frequent communicator to the membership AND public showcasing all of the activities that they can participate in. Another alternative is a means to subscribe to the news that visitors can opt into. Much like receiving a mailer at home, frequent updates would keep the GL in mind as news rolls out.
Overall I think the site handles its conversion well in that in the information it presents, it portrays the fraternity in a very positive, professional, and meaningful way. It does have a bit of a disconnect from the state in that its use of art seems more a convention of east coast Masonry (Washington and the cornerstone) but once you dig into the site, it loops back in enough of the goings on to illustrate the membership of the state.
Bonus
The henry Wilson Coil Library and Museum
A feather in the cap of the GL of CA is the Henry Wilson Coil Library and Museum which frequently hosts a selection of shows and material of great interest to masonry. With out going into great detail on the collection they do have a fantastic new website that beautifully illustrates its collection and goings on, which presents it as a must see destination of San Francisco art and history collections. You can see the Henry Wilson Coil Museum and Collection live atop Nob Hill in San Francisco.
Sex and Rockets – The Occult World of Jack Parsons
The occult, in the early part of the 20th century, set the stage for how it has come to be perceived in the 21st Century. Never has the explanation of the third way come into a mainstream light (except in works of fiction books and film) where it has been readily played up with bright flashes of scintillating energy and half mad megalomaniacs bent on short cutting their way to the realms of the Gods. Few have gone so far as to suggest the connection between space and the realm of the divine powers except in some of the more bizarre Lovecraftian tales of horror and suspense. (See The Best of H. P. Lovecraft). But the ground work of this 20th century occult, while shaped in one part by Manly P. hall was
also shaped in character that was formed by the man Marvel “Jack” “John” Parsons. And this tale, as told in the book “Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons” by John Carter is every bit science fact of rocket to the moon as it is Aleister Crowley‘s failure in inspiring his new aeon and Babylon working to manifest in his Thelemic following in Los Angles circa 1946. In Jack Parsons, hubris and vanity were very much a part of his wonder at the idea of sending rockets into space. But even in his explosive demise, Parson’s legacy on earth has crowned him a father of modern Rocketry with a crater dedicated to him on the dark side of the moon.
Jack Parsons
First published in 2004, Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons is the biography of Jack Parsons. A self taught scientist and rocketer, Parsons started his career path as a hobby of sorts, fueled in the exhaust of creating rockets to soar into the high earth atmosphere. This was in the age of fiction and rockets were only the dreams of explorers and fiction writers. Like all men of vision, however, Parsons worked endlessly to create sufficient thrust to make the rocket work. In this early life he also found and embraced the works of Aleister Crowley which became his faith, of sorts, by his practice of Thelema. His devotion grew over time in that he became the head of the Agape Lodge of the OTO in the mid 1940’s which met and practiced in his Bohemian home in Pasadena. In this period, Parsons regularly corresponded with Crowley, whose agents locally praised him as the successor of Crowley’s New Aeon and great work.
The book spends a considerable amount of time on Parsons life, but also included some interesting details on the Ordo Templi Orientis order that Parsons was at first so devoted to. As it reads Carter spends considerable time in developing the history of the OTO from 1895 through Crowley’s taking over and the credibility collapse of its founders Kellner, Reuss, Mathers, and Westcott. The history, as encapsulated in the book, is an interesting read especially as it contextualizes their history with Crowley, but also with their connections in Los Angeles in the early incubation of the occult today. Unlike Manly P. Hall (the author of The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Crowley sent Wilfred Smith (himself a student of the OTO and Crowley) with the purpose of opening an OTO lodge, which was incorporated in 1934 and met for the first time in 1935.
left to right: Rudolph Schott, Apollo Milton Olin Smith, future JPL Director Frank Malina (white shirt, dark pants), Ed Forman and Jack Parsons (right, foreground). Nov. 15, 1936. Image from NASA/JPL-Caltech
It was in this era that Jack Parson’s variously worked at the predecessor of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a variety of explosives companies, Electric companies, and gas stations (notably, even rocket scientists needing to work). In this mix of engineering academia and occult practice, Parson’s path merged in a John Dee/Edward Kelly fashion with the infamous L.Ron Hubbard (before his Scientology fame). In this time, Hubbard variously played scribe, confidant, and polyamerious love interest to Parson’s spouse Betty who, Carter writes, Hubbard absconded with along with the start up capitol that he and Parson’s had used to start a business. Crowley even going so far to say of Hubbard: “Suspect Ron playing confidence trick–Jack Parsons weak fool–obvious victim prowling swindlers.” In a letter a few days later he said, “It seems to me on the information of our brethren in California that Parsons has got an illumination in which he lost all his personal independence. From our brother’s account he has given away both his girl and his money. Apparently it is the ordinary confidence trick.”. Included in the book are the notes Hubbard took while acting as scribe in Parsons ritual workings.
L. Ron Hubbard
From his start, it seemed Parsons was destined for something great (magickly or otherwise), but ultimately met his demise in a fiery explosion in his garage turned laboratory/workshop. Sensing his end, perhaps, Carter reports that the last words spoken by Parsons were “I wasn’t done…“. This final utterance is cryptic in that his professional life had blurred the line with his occult life leaving us to wonder which work he saw unfinished. Carter suggests that Parson’s was a man drawn by an over arched Oedipious complex and a life long search for a father figure, both in Smith and in Crowley himself. At his end, it would seem he found it in neither.
The ruins of Parsons lab 1952
Carter does an ample job in giving life to Parson’s beyond his mundane occupation of jet propulsion and established him as one of the patriarchs of the occult in Los Angeles. As notable as he is in the scientific community, few know his name in the occult community. What his tangible contribution is will be up to those who follow in his footsteps, but his early dalliances and their display in the public sphere ushered in the modern perception of the occult and quite possibly the era of the baby boomers and their unknown working of the Thelemic philosophy that Parsons hoped would take hold. Parson’s, despite his end, explored the paths he wanted to physically and spiritually. His unfinished work being his legacy, left for us to continue to explore.
” by John Carter is every bit science fact of rocket to the moon as it is 
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