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.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia of Free and Accepted Masons J. Edward Jennings Jr. – Grand Master
August 19,2009
EDICT No. 2009-1
TO ALL CONSTITUTENT LODGES UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF GEORGIA, FREE & ACCEPTED MASONS:
WHEREAS: Freemasonry has existed in Georgia since it founding in 1734 and is the oldest Fraternal organization in the State, and;
WHEREAS: Freemasonry is universal in scope, being a Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God, and;
WHEREAS: the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free & Accepted Masons, holds membership in this worldwide Brotherhood, and;
WHEREAS: our Ancient and Honorable Fraternity welcomes to its doors and offers its privileges to men of all races, colors and national origins who believe in a Supreme Being, as stated in our Degrees and Lectures, and;
WHEREAS: no reference is made to exclude any petitioner with regard to race, color or national origin in any of the Rituals or Masonic Code authorized for use in the Constituent Lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons, and;
WHEREAS: it is incumbent on all members of our Brotherhood to abide by the Rule’S, Regulations, Laws and Edicts of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons;
THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED: That no negative reference be made by any officer or member of any lodge chartered under the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons, in reference to a petitioner’s race, color or national origin, who believe in a Supreme Being, during any Lodge communication, conferral of degrees, proficiency practice o proficiency examination;
Further, be it resolved, that it is the responsibility of the Worshipful Master of each Lodge constituted under the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons, to insure and enforce strict compliance with this EDICT, an, further, to have it read at the next two communications of the Lodge after receipt by the Lodge.
Any Lodge reported in violation of this Edict will be disciplined.
Given under my hand as Grand master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons, this 19th day of August, 2009.
Signed: J. Edward Jennings Jr.
Attested: Donald I. DeKalb
The Resolution addresses the issue of the “incident” that took place in June about the charges brought against Gate City Lodge (see My Brothers Keeper) for their raising of an African American to the degree of Master Mason and then allowing him to progress to an officer’s position.
Reading the above, it seems to say nothing of the charges brought, or their spurious nature, any past exclusion based on race, or impropriety of racial segregation. Essentially, it is a safe way of saying that “we don’t promote any bias on race, religion, or color (never mind sexual orientation)” despite what people say. Neither does it seem to suggest any acknowledgment of the bias that this edict was written to.
What do you think? Is this enough? Does this speak to an enlightened brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God? Is it enough, or should it say more?
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.
As said by Worshipful Brother James Elliot in the video, it truly is “breaking down the color barriers and cultural barriers as Masonry is for the universality of all men”.
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?
I had this question posed to me today in an email from a brother on Facebook.
As freemasons, we are under oath and obligation to keep the secrets of masonry. Based on your understanding what are the secrets with so much material out on our craft?
My thoughts on formulating an answer are below. I’m sure its not the only answer, but one that seemed fitting in answering the question. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the matter too.
Secret is a relative term. Is it the signs, tokens, words, or ideas and philosophy.
With so much published today, by the fraternity itself over the years, it makes me wonder what the craft itself holds as secret.
If anything, the secrets it possesses are those that even few masons truly comprehend, the state and nature of the divine, our connection to it, and how we communicate it.
Our best tool in keeping the secrets has been to not teach the meaning of masonry to its fullest potential, and its in that quest that we discover what the secret meaning is.
Ben Franklin is purported to of said that “the only secret of Freemasonry is that there is no secret” and maybe that is truer than what many realize. But as much weight that the society places on secrecy still begs the question of what its secrets might be.
Is it fraternalism? Is it some hermetic wisdom? Is it merely a collection of tokens or words?
Postdoctoral Fellowship.The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Masonic Grand Lodge of California are pleased to announce a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA from September 15, 2010 through June 15, 2011. The position is open to a recent Ph.D. with a strong interest in the history of civil society, fraternalism and Freemasonry.
This second postdoctoral fellow will teach one course in either American (North or South) or European history with emphasis on Freemasonry, designed in consultation with Prof. Margaret C. Jacob, Distinguished Professor of History, and work with a graduate student research assistant with an interest in any aspect of the field. A $50,000 stipend, office space for the nine-month period, and a modest relocation fee will be provided. The postdoctoral fellow must remain in residence while classes are in session.
Applicants should submit a CV and three letters of recommendation to Prof. Margaret C. Jacob by December 15, 2009. UCLA is an AA/EOE. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.
Freemasonry is the world’s first and largest fraternal organization. The Masons ofCaliforniahave supported public educationsince 1850 and are proud to advance academic research and study in the field of Freemasonry and fraternalism.
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.”
