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.
Observations on the esoteric from author Greg Stewart (Masonic Traveler) about the fraternity of Freemasonry, its impact on civil society and contributions to the material culture.
Br. John Nagy has been a friend of FmI for a while. You may remember his from his past appearances on the Masonic Central pod cast.
He is the author of the Building… series of books, and his blog Building Builders.
This video below comes from the World Wide Exemplification of Freemasonry, in which he speaks about the Masonic Paradigm which he says is different that what most might be familiar with that will enlighten the viewers Masonic endeavor – called Building Builder.
its a great intro into Masonic leadership from both sides of the learning curve: those being lead and those leading them. Its a great listen for quite literally Building Builders.
A short time back, we published a 4 page document from the Canadian CSIS on the threat posed to Freemasonry by Islamic extremists.
Shortly after posting the paper, I recieved an email from a source who has had close dealings with the CSIS and is involved in International and Terrorist Intelligence Programs.
In his email, he said:
This report, and the CSIS document upon which it was apparently based, simply confirms what most counterterrorists have long known: Islamic-extremist are hostile to Freemasons. In this regard, please refer to the Hamas Charter, Articles 17, 22 and 28, below. As you may know, Hamas, generally considered to be the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine arm, is a designated terrorist organization under the laws of various countries.
They lump the fraternity of Freemasonry in with with several groups including Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B’nai B’rith, saying they are part of the various Zionist Organizations making consistent efforts by way of publicity and movies, and curricula of education and culture.
This is of some interest as I can see where certain traffic frequently comes from to the site and notice every so often that large volumes of traffic comes from the middle east, specifically from countries that have generally been considered enemies of the West, or at best tacit allies in the war on terror. Often the spikes in traffic are followed by requests of “how to join in my country”, “Where are lodges in my country”, and pleas of people who “want to “become members”. With all this in mind, I often wonder what it was that sent them or what was behind the requests.
As a Masonic community, what do you think about this? With an enemy so far away, do you find there is any immediate threat, or is it just one of the many religious detractors towards Freemasonry?
The Muslim women have a no lesser role than that of men in the war of liberation; they manufacture men and play a great role in guiding and educating the [new] generation. The enemies have understood that role, therefore they realize that if they can guide and educate [the Muslim women] in a way that would distance them from Islam, they would have won that war. Therefore, you can see them making consistent efforts [in that direction] by way of publicity and movies, curricula of education and culture, using as their intermediaries their craftsmen who are part of the various Zionist Organizations which take on all sorts of names and shapes such as: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, gangs of spies and the like. All of them are nests of saboteurs and sabotage. Those Zionist organizations control vast material resources, which enable them to fulfill their mission amidst societies, with a view of implementing Zionist goals and sowing the concepts that can be of use to the enemy. Those organizations operate [in a situation] where Islam is absent from the arena and alienated from its people. Thus, the Muslims must fulfill their duty in confronting the schemes of those saboteurs. When Islam will retake possession of [the means to] guide the life [of the Muslims], it will wipe out those organizations which are the enemy of humanity and Islam.
Article Twenty-Two: The Powers which Support the Enemy
The enemies have been scheming for a long time, and they have consolidated their schemes, in order to achieve what they have achieved. They took advantage of key elements in unfolding events, and accumulated a huge and influential material wealth which they put to the service of implementing their dream. This wealth [permitted them to] take over control of the world media such as news agencies, the press, publication houses, broadcasting and the like. [They also used this] wealth to stir revolutions in various parts of the globe in order to fulfill their interests and pick the fruits. They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there. They also used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests. Such organizations are: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B’nai B’rith and the like. All of them are destructive spying organizations. They also used the money to take over control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries in order to exploit the wealth of those countries and spread their corruption therein. As regards local and world wars, it has come to pass and no one objects, that they stood behind World War I, so as to wipe out the Islamic Caliphate. They collected material gains and took control of many sources of wealth. They obtained the Balfour Declaration and established the League of Nations in order to rule the world by means of that organization. They also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials and prepared for the establishment of their state. They inspired the establishment of the United Nations and the Security Council to replace the League of Nations, in order to rule the world by their intermediary. There was no war that broke out anywhere without their fingerprints on it: “…As often as they light a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. Their efforts are for corruption in the land and Allah loves not corrupters.” Sura V (Al-Ma’ida—the Tablespread), verse 64 The forces of Imperialism in both the Capitalist West and the Communist East support the enemy with all their might, in material and human terms, taking turns between themselves. When Islam appears, all the forces of Unbelief unite to confront it, because the Community of Unbelief is one. “Oh ye who believe! Take not for intimates others than your own folk, who would spare no pain to ruin you. Hatred is revealed by [the utterance of] their mouth, but that which their breasts hide is greater. We have made plain for you the revelations if you will understand.” Sura III, (Al-Imran), verse 118 It is not in vain that the verse ends with God’s saying: “If you will understand.”
Article Twenty-Eight
The Zionist invasion is a mischievous one. It does not hesitate to take any road, or to pursue all despicable and repulsive means to fulfill its desires. It relies to a great extent, for its meddling and spying activities, on the clandestine organizations which it has established, such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions, and other spying associations. All those secret organizations, some which are overt, act for the interests of Zionism and under its directions, strive to demolish societies, to destroy values, to wreck answerableness, to totter virtues and to wipe out Islam. It stands behind the diffusion of drugs and toxics of all kinds in order to facilitate its control and expansion. The Arab states surrounding Israel are required to open their borders to the Jihad fighters, the sons of the Arab and Islamic peoples, to enable them to play their role and to join their efforts to those of their brothers among the Muslim Brothers in Palestine. The other Arab and Islamic states are required, at the very least, to facilitate the movement of the Jihad fighters from and to them. We cannot fail to remind every Muslim that when the Jews occupied Holy Jerusalem in 1967 and stood at the doorstep of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque, they shouted with joy: “Muhammad is dead, he left daughters behind.” Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims. “Let the eyes of the cowards not fall asleep.”
I was reanalyzing the expulsion of Kentucky Mason John Wright, and the thought occurred to me, was the gay issue in the charges or were they part of a means to color a (still) witch hunt based on otherwise slightly promiscuous behavior.
Reviewing the formal charge document, they read that the recipient “violated his oath and obligation, by his own admission, of having engaged in one or more relationships prior to the finalization of his divorce.
So no mention of his persuasion, but rather what seems to me an intrusion of his personal life.
Is it justifiable to questions a man’s oath and obligation on the grounds that he confesses pre-marital intercourse? And, if the answer is in the affirmative, is it reason to expell a member?
If we start to police with that kind of morality, how many others will be shown the door?
Maybe the conclusion that the issue was on the grounds of Wright being gay were premature, though its easy to lose the subtext to the overt finding.
But what does that say to the rest of the fraternity?
Are you guilty of premarital sex? Does that make you any less a “good man”?
No official press release has been forthcoming, but the website Kentucky.com is reporting:
An openly gay Mason from Kentucky has been suspended indefinitely from the fraternity after an April 8 Masonic trial found him guilty of “un-masonic conduct,” according to a letter from the group’s Grand Lodge of Kentucky in Jefferson County.
“It was tantamount to expulsion. I might as well be expelled,” said John Wright of Richmond.
Wright stood trial on charges leveled by five Masons from Central Kentucky that he deserted his wife due to his homosexuality and revealed Masonic information that was considered privileged.
This isn’t exactly new news, the trial was more than a week ago, but the story broke April 16th concluding, for now, the saga of the Masonic Trial of brother John Wright.
And yes, I said brother. You can expel the man from the fraternity, but can you really expel the teachings from his being?
Pending an appeal in ojne years time, Wright is quoted in the piece as believing there to be “a very strong anti-gay sentiment” within the fraternity in Kentucky.
The outcome, while a very tragic outcome to what was suppoed to be a very enlightened and modern society, was not unexpected. It seems that for a fraternity that loudly pronounces itself to not be a religion takes its moral ethics to the heights of a religious faith, when most faiths are opening its doors to the LGBT community.
One in an ongoing series I’ve planned to look at. The ideas expressed could probably apply to all walks fo life, from your work place, to the Lodge Room. Each one of us are leaders in one way or another, and these are lessons to help us be better.
In this video Four star general Stanley McChrystal shares what he’s learned about leadership over his decades in the military. Listening, learning, and the shared purpose. He also addresses the possibility of failure.
I happened onto a reference in a book I just finished reading, Occult America, about Gandhi that mentioned the influence of Theosophy in his life.
On a quick excursion to find the deeper connection, I happened upon a statement of Gandhi’s from his Harijan Journal about the philosophy that struck me. In the statement written January 30, 1948, Gandhi said:
“I have come to the conclusion that the Theosophy is Hinduism in theory, and that Hinduism is Theosophy in practice.”
“There are many admirable works in Theosophical literature, which one may read with the greatest profit; but it appears to me that too much stress has been laid upon mental and intellectual studies: upon argument, upon the development of occult powers, and that the central idea of theosophy, the brotherhood of mankind and the moral growth of man has been lost sight of in these.”
That same day Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, assassinated the pre-eminent political and ideological leader.
His proximity to the Theosophical movement was so close that in the founding of the Indian National Congress, which Gandhi assumed leadership over in 1921, we find the most eminent Theosophists at its inception.
“[the] Theosophical Society provided the framework for action within which some of its Indian and British members worked to form the Indian National Congress.” “The founders of the Indian National Congress relied on the contacts and commitments generated within the Society;” “Gandhi, like Malabari, Rao, and Sen, used theosophy to help restore his pride in his native culture to support his vision of ancient India as a vital, rational, and moral society (Gandhi 1948). British occultists, such as Besant, and western-educated Indians, such as Gandhi, turned to theosophy for different reasons, but once they had done so, they shared practices and intellectual commitments that helped sustain the nationalist movement.”
Mahatma Gandhi with Dr. Annie Besant in Madras, September 1921.
Such was the connection that Annie Besant of Co-Freemasonry fame was the Congress’ president in 1917, to which she later split off to form the Swaraj Party.
Gandhi, in this swirling sea of occultists, is said to have met Blavatsky in 1889. In those pre-Mahatma years the great philosopher was a student of law at London University. In the book Occult America, Mitch Horowitz says it was in this period that Gandhi read the Bhagavad Gita for the first time writing in his memoirs that he “felt ashamed…as I had read the divine poem neither in Sanskrit nor in Gujarati …that I had not read the Gita.”
It was in this interesting connection that I felt necessitated a closer examination of the religious group.
Theosophy, a system of religious philosophy, was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, and William Quan Judge in 1889 (previous incarnations stretch back to 1875). Defined in its present day incarnation by the Theosophical Society, in Pasadena, California, the name Theosophy is derived from the Greek theos (god, divinity) and Sophia (wisdom). It goes on to say that Its “philosophy is a contemporary presentation of the perennial wisdom underlying the world’s religions, sciences, and philosophies.” That same Pasadena Society goes on to say that the Theosophical Society is a worldwide association of men and women dedicated to the uplifting of humanity through a better understanding of the oneness of life and the practical application of this principle.
Interesting to note, there are several branches that exist, all as offshoots in one way or another of the original organization founded by Blavatsky in 1875.
…by reference to the three great principles which underlie all life, as well as every religion and every philosophy that ever has been, or ever can be. They may be briefly named: (1) The Self, as reality in man; (2) Law, as the processes by which man evolves both in form and soul; (3) Evolution, as the design of life in terms of meaning and purpose.
Masonry and Theosophy come together at a point in the formation and work of Le Droit Humain, the French obedience of Co-freemasonry which began in the 1880’s. The early prominent members of the Theosophy movement: Annie Besant, George Arundale, Charles W. Leadbeater, C. Jinarajadasa and Henry Steele Olcott soon became prominent members of Co-Freemasonry.
Brought to England and founded by Annie Besant the Order of Universal Co-Freemasonry in Great Britain and the British Dependencies was founded in 1902 with the creation of Lodge Human Duty No. 6 in London. Her working of the system evolved the then ritual to into the working called the “revised ritual” which was called the ‘Dharma Ritual’, also known as the ‘Besant-Leadbeater’ and more recently as the ‘Lauderdale’ working. Of note, the Dharma ritual is said to of been an attempt to restore an esoteric tone and mysticism back into the degrees as the theosophical authors believed that this spirituality was (is) at the heart of what Freemasonry represented. Their work of Co-Freemasonry has been called “Occult Freemasonry” because of these inclusions.
From the Grand Lodge of Freemasonry for Men and Women website of the degree:
In 1904, the Dharma Ritual was published in which the Supreme Being or God was firmly established as essential to the Ceremonies in that Ritual….
In 1925, speaking in Kensington to a Theosophical audience, Dr.Besant expressed her differences with the French approach, and summarized the agreements that had been made with earlier Supreme Councils as follows:
‘If (Masonry) is really anything, it is a presentment by symbol and by legend of the great fundamental truths of human life and human evolution; and therefore, just as in the great Mysteries – of which its forms are really the vessels surviving – no distinction of sex is permitted; and because of that act in what we call Co-Masonry, it came into the position of being a possible instrument for helping in the evolution of mankind …. into the really Universal Brotherhood which it proclaims. The difficulty in the French Masonry, where this movement, Le Droit Humain originated, was that they left out that universal landmark of Masonry, the recognition of the Great Architect of the Universe. But when some of us here, Theosophists, became Masons, taking our Initiations, as we had to, from France, we said quite frankly that we could do nothing (with Freemasonry ) in England unless that great landmark was restored, as we believed in the Existence (of God). As they were willing to accept us believing in Him, it was necessary that we should be given perfect freedom to use His name in our Rituals and to acknowledge His Power in our workings. So that, in this respect, English Freemasonry differs from the French – certainly so far as we are concerned, we follow the English usage and not that of the French’.
Although today Masons do not call their Craft a religion, it has nevertheless a religious origin, as we have already seen, and it does religious work in helping its initiates and through them the rest of the world. To many of the Brn. it is the only real religion they have ever had, and certainly many of them put its principles nobly into practice: for masculine Masonry is a stupendous charitable organization as well as a “system of morality”, and it offers a splendid training in practical kindliness and fraternity.
I’ve read in several online forum that the Lauderdale working is still in practice with Le Droit, but for those not involved with the Co-Masonic Order one can get a sense of what the Dharma ritual may look like in a through reading of Leadbetter’s book, especially as it really relates the practical to the esoteric in the working.
Theosophy, however, has not aged well and their following seems to be increasingly diminishing. They do have some organization that remains, but not the tooth it had in the days of Blavatsky and Besant. Theosophy has moved on from those days with mostly the echos of its past projecting onto the modern stage. They still have lodges and study libraries, but like so many “occult societies” it would seem their days in the sun have waned, if one could argue that they ever had one.
Notables of Theosophy you might recognize include:
Rudolf Steiner
A literary critic and cultural philosopher of the early 20th century. He founded the spiritual movement, Anthroposophy, which is an esoteric philosophy growing out of European transcendentalism and with links to Theosophy. Steiner later became most famous for his ideas about education, resulting in an international network of “Steiner Schools”, also known as Waldorf schools.
L. Frank Baum
Author of the book Wizard of Oz, in addition to many other children books and fantasy novels.
Paul Gauguin
The french artist who made beautiful and colorful works that idealized Polynesian life as being tropical and mostly unclothed.
William Butler Yeats
The Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator.
Others include Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Franz Kafka.
First the roses, the Grand Lodge of Nebraska is taking their schism by the horns and taking the dialog into the inboxes of their members no matter the “legitimate arguments and sleaze”.
Addressing the continuing issue of who’s Grand Master now, Past Grand Master and Jurisprudence Committee member Dean Skokan writes for the membership in the quarterly Nebraska Mason newsletter. He reports that “These are dark days for Nebraska Masonry…” a sentiment that he is expressing over the illegitimate installation of E. David Watts who is still under the specter of both criminal and Masonic Charges.
Skokan holds no punches and clearly is writing from the position of the Jurisprudence Committee and the lawful installed (and less issue encumbered) Grand Master John Parsons. Rightfully so, he calls it as he sees it to the membership declaring the situation a mess but then spells out the undisputed facts and the letter of the law, Masonic law at least.
The issue still comes down to the ability to serve while an issue of moral turpitude hangs over the incumbents head. The “official” charge is that Watts promised to resign to the Grand Lodge Advancing Line Officers should he be charged with felonies after his preliminary hearing. A month later he was charged, and then didn’t resign but not before internal Masonic charges were filed against him. With charges pending against him, Watts went ahead and was installed in a ‘secret’ installation days before the ‘official’ Grand Lodge installation.
Locks were changed, financials redrafted, and staff were instructed to avoid contact and conversation. Watts became Masona non grata, and face charges with three outcomes: acquittal, suspension, or expulsion, with additional charges pending for the illegal installation.
My favorite line in the 2 page break down is the commentary at the end where Skokan says of Watts “There will likely be some brief period of time when E. David Watts may pretend to be Grand Master, but it will not be long.” And speaking about whose well meaning brothers who support Watts “…Watts’ attempt to be installed in an unannounced “ceremony” is not more legitimate than his claim. In doing so, he has crossed the lin between legitimate arguments and sleaze. No Mason should support that decision.”
He concludes his update with the observation saying Watts “walked away from that process [his assertion to the position]. He may have walked away from the Fraternity in doing so.”
I have to say, I applaud the Grand Lodge of Nebraska for their frank openness of this situation and their willingness to address the Schism of Grand Masters in a transparent manner. Without a doubt Watts has his hands full in the coming months, and the move to attempt to usurp the leadership amidst the turmoil was a gross over assumption of authority. The sooner this is resolved, the better for the fraternity.
Now the Thorns.
The Charges against Kentucky Mason John Wright still stand without sign of changing.
Not surprising, especially given the comments that are still coming in on the fraternity’s willingness to even allow gays amongst its rank. It’s hard to say for sure if the comments on the issue are real since they have such a cartoonish tone to them, but when you place them side by side with the issue standing before Past Master Wright makes them impossible to refute them.
In this story, Wright was the focal point of Grand Lodge legislation that failed to make Freemasonry in that state a singularly heterosexual male fraternity. Following the failure of the legislation change, charges were brought against Wright for a sundry of charges including spousal abandonment, Openly forsaken his belief in God, refusal to obey the Moral Laws by his declaration of his homosexuality (citing the moral law as it being an abomination to the law of God).
So, as progressive as was the defeat of the marriage provision to the Grand Lodge body, the allowance of the Grand Lodge to allow these charges to go through is still a travesty for all involved. As passions are so elevated about the issue there is for sure to be causalities on both sides of any final decision on the charges. No one wins in this, and without taking on the dialog about it, it’s really a moot point.
If Wright wins and the charges are found to be bogus, you lose the support of those who may hold similar sentiment as the moralists (of whom there are no doubt many).
If the anti-gay advocates win because of their interpretation of a Moral Law, then Masonry loses and puts another nail in the coffin of social obscurity.
The latest development along the road to the April 8th trial is the letter that the trial is a closed door event that only Masons with dues cards will be allowed to attend.
It’s a difficult road to travel, but I think most would agree that the Grand Lodge of Kentucky could do more to address the issue and take a stand on the issue. They were strong to announce the failure of the resolution to change their Masonic Law, but unfortunately very silent on this moral witch-hunt.
In the story it reports that Canadian Intelligence in 2009 issued a brief on Freemasonry and Islamist Extremists, and it paints a pretty grim picture.
Because of the release of the Da Vinci Code book and National Treasure film some have come to see a “conspiracy against Islam.”
I’m sure this won’t come as much of a surprise, but the report says that Islamist extremists see the Masons as part of a Western crusade against Islam. More so that Freemasonry is seen as a direct threat to Islam.
Quoting from the story in the paper:
While most rational thinkers can tell fact from fiction, CSIS warns that we should not have such high expectations for the cave-dwelling sages at al-Qaeda HQ
“It is easy to dismiss belief in an all-powerful Freemasonry movement as akin to conspiracy theories prevalent on the Internet, fed by popular films and literature,” it [the report] says.
“It is important to underscore, however, that these theories are consistent with the Islamist extremist common narrative: in this light, the Freemasons are believed to be taking part in attacks against Islam.
Attached below are the pages of the report for your review, and a link to the original pdf at the bottom. One part of me wants to say that this is a hoax, an unfunny April fools joke, especially when you look at the unkept CSIS website and some of the gross errors in the report (what exactly was the Lost Symbol?), but whose to say for sure.
Or, view the originally posted document on Scribed
I was reading through Pikes 11th degree – Prince Ameth for a paper I’m working on and ran across this passage which I liked and wanted to share.
The people that does not subjugate the propensity of the wealthy to avarice, ambition, and sensuality, expel luxury from them and their families, keep down pauperism, diffuse knowledge among the poor, and labor to raise the abject from the mire of vice and low indulgence, and to keep the industrious from starving in sight of luxurious festivals, will find that it has cherished, in that avarice, ambition, sensuality, selfishness, and luxury of the one class, and that degradation, misery, drunkenness, ignorance, and brutalization of the other, more stubborn and intractable despots at home than it ever encountered in the field; and even its very bowels will be continually teeming with the intolerable progeny of tyrants.
These are the first enemies to be subdued; this constitutes the campaign of Peace; these are triumphs, difficult indeed, but bloodless; and far more honorable than those trophies which are purchased only by slaughter and rapine; and if not victors in this service, it is in vain to have been victorious over the despotic enemy in the field.
For if any people thinks that it is a grander; a more beneficial, or a wiser policy, to invent subtle expedients by stamps and imposts, for increasing the revenue and draining the life-blood of an impoverished people; to multiply its naval and military force; to rival in craft the ambassadors of foreign states; to plot the swallowing up of foreign territory; to make crafty treaties and alliances; to rule prostrate states and abject provinces by fear and force; than to administer unpolluted justice to the people, to relieve the condition and raise the estate of the toiling masses, redress the injured and succor the distressed and conciliate the discontented, and speedily restore to every one his own; then that people is involved in a cloud of error, and will too late perceive, when the illusion of these mighty benefits has vanished, that in neglecting these, which it thought inferior considerations, it has only been precipitating its own ruin and despair.
While every ox and horse can find work, and is worth being fed, it is not always so with man. To be employed, to have a chance to work at anything like fair wages, becomes the great engrossing object of a man’s life. The capitalist can live without employing the laborer, and discharges him whenever that labor ceases to be profitable. At the moment when the weather is most inclement, provisions dearest, and rents highest, he turns him off to starve. if the day-laborer is taken sick, his wages stop. When old, he has no pension to retire upon. His children cannot be sent to school; for before their bones are hardened they must get to work lest they starve. The man, strong and able-bodied, works for a shilling or two a day, and the woman shivering over her little pan of coals, when the mercury drops far below zero, after her hungry children have wailed themselves to sleep, sews by the dim light of her lonely candle, for a bare pittance, selling her life to him who bargained only for the work of her needle.
Fathers and mothers slay their children, to have the burial-fees, that with the price of one child’s life they may continue life in those that survive. Little girls with bare feet sweep the street-crossings, when the winter wind pinches them, and beg piteously for pennies of those who wear warm furs. Children grow up in squalid misery and brutal ignorance; want compels virgin and wife to prostitute themselves; women starve and freeze, and lean up against the walls of workhouses, like bundles of foul rags, all night long, and night after night, when the cold rain falls, and there chances to be no room for them within; and hundreds of families are crowded into a single building, rife with horrors and teeming with foul air and pestilence; where men, women and children huddle together in their filth; all ages and all colors sleeping indiscriminately together; while, in a great, free, Republican State, in the full vigor of its youth and strength, one person in every seventeen is a pauper receiving charity.
How to deal with this apparently inevitable evil and mortal disease is by far the most important of all social problems. What is to be done with pauperism and over-supply of labor? How is the life of any country to last, when brutality and drunken semi-barbarism vote, and hold offices in their gift, and by fit representatives of themselves control a government? How, if not wisdom and authority, but turbulence and low vice are to exalt to senatorships miscreants reeking with the odors and pollution of the hell, the prize-ring, the brothel, and the stock-exchange, where gambling is legalized and rascality is laudable?
He follows it up saying:
Masonry will do all in its power, by direct exertion and co-operation, to improve and inform as well as to protect the people; to better their physical condition, relieve their miseries, supply their wants, and minister to their necessities. Let every Mason in this good work do all that may be in his power.
Once started, it delivers – developing a body of ideas creating an evolution of thought influenced in an era before the Catholic witch trials of Cagliostro and began in the new world with the voyage of the Quaking Shaker Ann Lee (later to re-dubbed Mother Ann) who traveled from Manchester in 1774 to New York with a cohort of 8 followers who together cobbled resources to form a small religious colony in Niskayuna near Albany.
Horowitz takes on a daunting task, the challenge of not sounding encyclopedic and pulling a variety of disparate pieces of Americana together to tease this occult history out from the facts. In some ways, the telling of Occult America mirrors the troubled story of Mother Ann that Horowitz introduces us to in the opening of the book, inauspiciously to the unintentional spread of ideas everywhere.
So as not to ruin the fun of discovering the secret history for yourself Occult America links together a progression of thought, in an age not known for its wide degree of communication, that at its present day apex has shaped the widest segment of religious and spiritual thought to such a degree that, Horowitz suggests, shaped the 1980 to 2001 “Be all you can be” slogan of the U.S. Army as a mantra of sorts to the ultimate of New Thought self development. His suggestion is that many aspects of the New Age philosophy (what was at first called “New Thought”) have become integral to much (if not most) of out day to day life.
Sydney Omarr, son of a grocer and housewife, was at one time dubed by Time magazne Astrology’s “most skillful and sober public protagonist.” In Occult America, Horowitz explores how Omarr went from magic shop cruiser and Atlantic City fortune teller to the grandfather of modern newspaper astrology still published in newspapers today.
How so, you might be wondering?
Just a few of the ideas that were at one point considered occult include the evolution of human consciousness, the connection of the mind-body-spirit health, and the ever growing trend of people moving (which data supports) away from organized religion to pursue instead a spirituality. All of these various aspects, he says, have a root in the developments of the past 200 years through this subculture of Americana. For those who may not remember, even the Scottish Rite Journal was titled the New Age for many years and represented a fraternal flag ship to the movement.
In some respects, you could bookend Occult America with Jeff Sharlet’s The Family because as the Family chronicles the rise of the Fundamentalist religious right, Horowitz traces a line through the various sub culture movements that transmitted one idea to the next movement and so on. As a Masonic reader you will be interested to know that at points he acknowledges the presence of Freemasonry as well as other esoteric/occult groups as major players to the dissemination of ideas.
What the book doesn’t do, which might be a product of necessitating many more pages, is chronicle the earlier presence of occult ideas that at the time were a regular part of the American landscape. For instance, it’s impossible to look at the early American development without seeing Freemasonry (Washington was inaugurated on a Masonic bible which speaks to its presence) as a major contributor in many earlier instances. Horowitz does touch on this earlier history, but he starts his telling with the founding of Mother Ann’s religious Shaker colony and its promulgation of ideas forward.
One of the more entertaining chapters that I enjoyed was the lineage of the Ouija Board, started in the age of séances and the selling of spiritualism. He makes a very good case for how the rapping tables and automatic-writers of the burgeoning psychic era moved from formalized sitting room sessions to game boards made by Hasbro (now Glow in the Dark) to sit between two kanoodling lovers knees playing slide the planchette.
You can almost sum up the history of the Occult in America in the story of the Ouija Board, from the home spun to the highly processed and manufactured message, but to do so would omit so much of the rich history that the Occult has traced through America, and Horowitz has really captured in an album of snapshots of our esoteric landscape starting with Mother Ann, who was at the time called by her followers “Christ returned in female form.”
, about 
, C.W. Leadbetter says of the fraternity:
I was reading through Pikes 
and am a bit surprised at the story it tells, and some of what it doesn’t.
because as the Family chronicles the rise of the Fundamentalist religious right, Horowitz traces a line through the various sub culture movements that transmitted one idea to the next movement and so on. As a Masonic reader you will be interested to know that at points he acknowledges the presence of Freemasonry as well as other esoteric/occult groups as major players to the dissemination of ideas.