Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & a. m.

Newsletter

apr – jun 2010 A.L. 6010

The Arizona Keystone

Volume 3, Issue 2

They have in their Lodge several Gentlemen, sons of Art,

each very eminent in his Profession: These Gentlemen, at the

command of the Master, are obliged to read a Lecture upon

whatsoever topic he shall direct. This gives the Brethren of

the Lodge an insight into all Arts and Sciences, and furnishes

them with a competency of Universal Knowledge, so neces-

sary and commendable in a Gentleman…

- - excerpt from a 1726 book about Freemasonry

2

The Arizona Keystone

Volume 3, Number 2

Apr - Jun 2010

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

George Weil, Master

MANAGING EDITOR

Keith Rosewitz, Secretary

The Arizona Keystone is an official publication of Scientia Coronati Research

Lodge #4 F. & A. M. and printed quar-

terly. Unless otherwise noted, articles

appearing in this publication express only

the private opinion or assertions of the

writer, and do not necessarily reflect the

official opinion of Scientia Coronati Re-

search Lodge #4 F. & A. M. or the Grand

Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of

Arizona.

Articles are subject to editing and be-

comes the property of Scientia Coronati

Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. No com-

pensation is allowed for any article, pho-

tographs, or other materials submitted for

publication.

Permission to reprint articles will be

granted upon written request to the Edi-

tor. When reprinted, articles should note

“Reprinted with permission of

The Arizona Keystone (Month, year).”

Please direct all correspondence to:

Editor: The Arizona Keystone

773 S. Maple Lane

Chino Valley, AZ 86323

FEATURES

3. EDITOR’S NOTES

4. PEN AND PAPER

CONTENTS

3

Master ’s Notes

My Brothers,

The year is halfway over and I feel we are still

moving at a very slow pace. We have still not written the

future of our Research Lodge which should include a vari-

ety of research activities and presentations. Each year

this Lodge will be challenged to its relevancy in Masonry

and to its importance to its membership. We must con-

tinue to put our feet on the gas pedal.

As we review and re-write our By-Laws to frame

them to a more palatable set of rules, we hope that this

helps promote a more attractive view to joining our Research Lodge.

Clearly, we must continue to be innovative in our ideas. So where do we start? Inno-

vation doesn’t come from a study of mechanics, systems, processes, technologies or strate-

gies, as many might assume. Innovation comes from a study of people, how they live,

what they want and what they need. Innovation is about constantly finding more ways to

add value to the lives of the members of this Lodge.

So, we need to innovate or die? Innovation has always separated leaders from fol-

lowers, those who succeed and those who just get by. Innovation is what creates progress,

and progress is what advances organizations and people beyond the competitive herd of the

masses, average and the status quo.

I have beat the innovation drum for all to hear. Now, lets give it a try.

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PEN AND PAPER

In Search of the Wisdom of Solomon

Matthew Christmas explores the Solomonic Degrees

Why ‘Solomonic Degrees’? I call them so because it is the actions of

Solomon, King of Israel, Hiram King of Tyre and Hiram Abif – as

well as their successors – which form the allegorical and symbolic ba-

sis for the journey undertaken within them; the candidate searches for

the Masonic light in his quest for the Lost Word. Brethren should re-

call the exchange between Master and Wardens at the Third Degree

opening :

What is that which was lost?

The genuine secrets of a Master Mason.

How came they lost?

By the untimely death of our Master…

How often we hear those words and overlook the fact that they encap-

sulate all that we seek. The story of King Solomon’s Temple is, for

Freemasons, an allegory for our search for the Lost Word and,

thereby, of our pursuit of Truth. These degrees should not be just col-

lected as if we were cub-scouts in search of badges. We should view

them as intimately bound up with the three Craft degrees and with the

progression towards the Supreme degree of the Holy Royal Arch, when that Word is finally recovered.

The Royal Arch often comes so quickly after raising that we may have missed the arduous ‘historical’ and

symbolic journey leading to our exaltation. Perhaps this speed from Craft to Royal Arch should change. It might

mean more if the journey were longer and demanded more consideration by us on the way.

Between the times in which the Craft and Royal Arch degrees are set, four other rites and degrees lead their

members to the Temples in Jerusalem and to the symbolism which revolves around them: the Mark Degree, the four

degrees of Royal and Select Masters (known as the Cryptic Rite, as the ceremonies take place in a crypt or vault be-

neath the Sanctuary of the Temple), two of the Allied Masonic Degrees and thirteen of the so-called Intermediate De-

grees (4th to 16th) of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. One of these degrees – Excellent Master – while part of the

Royal Arch as conferred by the York Rite in America, and also worked in Scotland – is, regrettably, not conferred in

England. English Freemasons are able to be fully admitted to the remainder of these degrees, although the Intermedi-

ate Degrees are merely conferred by name on candidates for the 18th Degree (the justifiably coveted Rose Croix

which I will consider in the next issue). However, it is possible to see these Intermediate Degrees performed, with

two demonstrated each year by permission of the Supreme Council 33°, the governing body of the Ancient and Ac-

cepted Rite. Having said that, there is little in any of these thirteen to justify their being worked regularly; at best, the

issues which they cover are of lesser importance to our main pursuit of the Lost Word, being mainly concerned with

the re-organization of the work rendered necessary by the murder of Hiram and the steps taken to apprehend his mur-

derers. The best of them are the 15th and 16th which are based on the liberation of the Jews from the Babylonian

Captivity, the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the commencement of the building of the 2nd Temple in the time of

Zerubbabel, although both of these are ritually worked better in the respective degrees of Excellent Master and the

Red Cross of Babylon.

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There are in fact as many as 25 degrees which relate to the Tem-

ples of Jerusalem, but it is impossible to receive them in what

might be considered a chronological order. In England, there is in

no sense a separate and progressive rite which is formed by these

degrees, and there is no doubt that the powers that be would frown

on such a system, which is one reason why it is rarely talked

about; the other reason is historical accident, as a result of which

they are spread about without heed to place or meaning. We

should also note Grand Lodge’s position with regard to these other

degrees. For a whole variety of 19th century masonically political

reasons, the Act of Union of the two English Grand Lodges of

1813 makes it clear that “pure Ancient Masonry consists of three

degrees, and no more, those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow

Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the

Holy Royal Arch.” This has not changed in the 185 years since

1813, although many brethren as well as Grand Lodge officials and officers are very active in these additional degrees.

These other degrees began to appear in England in the 1750s, way after pure Ancient Masonry was established

here. In England, we have nothing like the York Rite in America, or the Swedish Rite in Scandinavia, which bring to-

gether under one sovereign body many of the degrees which we consider universal, as well as many which are often

described as Christian. However, for the sake of this article, these 25 degrees have been arranged chronologically (see

Box), so that masons can appreciate that there is an historical ‘sequence’ to them, even though the events related in all

the degrees are little more than Masonic legend, based around events related in the Old Testament. There is an histori-

cal sequence, but more importantly, there is an esoteric one. The only real problem in listing them chronologically

comes with the 3rd Degree, which focuses on the death of Hiram Abif, just before the degree of Royal Master, and

which extends up to just before the degree of Most Excellent Master.

Without divulging more than is proper, the tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters for the name of God) – that

which was lost – could only be pronounced by the three Grand Masters acting in unison. The death of Hiram rendered

this impossible, so to forestall the loss of the pronunciation forever, clues were placed in a secret vault where they re-

mained until the three sojourners discovered them in the Royal Arch, centuries later. In the ceremonies, each of the pre-

siding officers represents one of the original Grand Masters or his successors or substitutes, while the candidate repre-

sents a Jewish workman, contemporary character, or even most memorably, Hiram himself. We experience the build-

ing of the first Temple in the Mark Degree, the pain of the loss of the Word in the Third Degree, and the steps taken to

preserve it by means of the construction of a secret vault whose existence faded into legend. We may appreciate the

attempts, as illustrated in a wide variety of degrees, to carry on as normal after that loss, before embarking on a sym-

bolic journey and crossing of a river, leading to a fraternal banquet in the Red Cross of Babylon. This leads directly to

the building of the Second Temple and, ultimately, to the exaltation of discovery and realization in the Royal Arch.

However, there is clearly more to this than the search for a means of pronunciation of a word, even that as sig-

nificant as the word explained in the Mystical Lecture of the Holy Royal Arch. Each mason will bring to this quest –

for a quest it is – what he seeks; after all, is not all Masonry veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols – as indeed

spiritual life is? The Solomonic Degrees are one way of approaching that mysterious journey. There is, of course, no

need to be admitted to any of these degrees between Craft and Royal Arch in order to experience what that journey has

to offer, but those degrees are there if the Solomonic route seems right for you.

(Reprinted with permission from Freemasonry Today, Issue 07, Winter 1998/99)

6

The Masonic Halfpenny From England's Past Social History Emerges a Story Surrounding a Small Masonic Coin

In their original village life, communities were to

a great extent self-supporting, and the bulk of local

trade was carried out by barter, the miller taking a part

of the farmer's corn as his fee for grinding it, and the

boot maker receiving a sack of potatoes for his ser-

vices etc.

But, in the factories, labor was bought for cash,

and the laborer had to buy the necessities of life with

cash likewise. This great upsurge in money trade led

to an embarrassing shortage of currency, particularly

of smaller coins. This was aggravated by the demands for metal by the munitions industry to supply the needs of the re-

cent war of American Independence.

The Government of the day was quite unable, or too inept, to organize the money supply to meet the needs of the

people. The Master of the Royal Mint was paid commission on the value of the Mint's output, so it was more profitable to

produce gold and silver coins of higher denominations, even though the shortage of small change made local trading al-

most impossible. The upper classes also thought it demeaning to have the effigy of the monarch on base metal coins such

as bronze or tin. So, in 1787, one Thomas Williams began minting his own token pennies and halfpennies from the copper

he produced in his own mines. Soon, others imitated him, and subsequently even small traders and institutions were de-

signing and producing their own token coins. Among the many traders issuing tokens was James Sketchley, a bookseller

and a Mason of Birmingham, who designed and issued the coin illustrated, the Masonic halfpenny.

These were issued in 1794, probably as "Pocket Pieces" or curios, but it is certain that they were circulated widely

and accepted as money in the same way as all the other token coins.

It is not recorded how many were made, but experts have recognized three different dies for one face, two for the

other and 13 edge inscriptions, so it is fair to assume that very many were produced. After a short time, the manufacture

was taken over by William Lutwyche, another Mason.

The top illustration of the coin is depicted what may be termed its historical face. It carries the Mason's Arms, the

insignia of the Premier Grand Lodge, which Brother Sketchley's Lodge, St Paul's, now No. 43, had adopted as its crest in

1786.

Noteworthy points. First, the escutcheon or shield is divided by a chevron, on which is engraved wide-open com-

passes. Second, the shield is supported by two beavers, traditionally famed for their industry. Third, above the shield is a

globe surmounted by the Dove of Peace, and finally, the legend Amor, Honor et Justitia – Love, Honor and Justice.

Around the circumference is an inscription commemorating the election in 1790 of HRH the Prince of Wales as Grand

Master of the Premier Grand Lodge, referred to as "The Moderns". The Prince of Wales subsequently became Prince Re-

gent, and later King George IV.

The bottom illustration I deem the symbolic or allegorical face of the coin. First, the Latin legend, “Sit Lux et Lux

fuit” – Let there be light and there was Light. Also, observe around a triangle the names of those three great pillars that

symbolically support a Lodge: wisdom, strength and beauty.

This Masonic Token is a coin of small value, and yet as an object on which to moralize is of inestimable worth. It

provides a direct link with our brethren of over 200 years ago, and illustrates the stability and unchanging nature of our

peculiar system of morality that is amply illustrated by such symbols.

(This article is based on a lecture delivered by the late W Bro Fred Finedon to his own lodge, Babergh Lodge No 8122

and to the Lodge of Perfect Friendship No 376—Reprinted from Freemasonry Today, Issue 16, Spring 2001)