The Working Tools Masonic Magazine Oct 2011

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October 2011 Issue #45

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Welcome my brothers to the October 2011 edition of “The Working Tools Masonic Magazine.”

This issue was created using the brand new HP Pavillion com-puter I purchased right after the Summer fundraiser was over. The entire process was so much easier and quicker using a PC with a faster processor and memory to handle all the multi-tasking i do. Now that I have it all up and running I’m hop-ing to get back into the other side projects like the videos and podcasts again.

October 2011 IssueAfter the amount of emails I received from the brethren who enjoyed the York Rite special edition I figured “Hey what not continue with the next logical step”. Hence the follow up issue centered around the Scottish Rite.

Also, as I’m always tinkering with the look of TWT, I added small graphics at the top right corner so when you scan through the PDF you can tell what section it is (Books, CD’s, Bio’s..etc)

Shoot me an email if you have an idea for a future issue.

Special Extra “Thank You”Bro Scott Schwartzberg has helped me out this month tremendously. He has worked with me all month pro-viding information, research and submissions. You’ll see his name alot through out the whole issue. I couldn’t have done it without him.

Until next time...

Cory Sigler

Cory Sigler, PM Hawthorne Fortitude #200Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/corysigler & facebook.com/twtmag

Welcome

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MORE TWT SERVICES

TWT MAG presents: The video “Working Tools”

Featuring highlights from the current magazine.

Including music and video segments

Download and show in Lodge for a quick 10 minute presentation that all the brethren

will enjoy!!!

Find At http://blip.tv/the-working-tools to download

INTRODUCING THE NEW “TWT MAG” FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOKGet all the issue updates and news first

Show your appreciation by searching under “The Working Tools” and liking the page.`

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Contents

This Month’s Issue Includes:

Pg 34The The Scottish Rite Craft Degrees by Scott Schwartzberg

Pg 22DVD Review “The Masonic Map”

· What to read this month- Pg.10· Book Review “Morals & Dogma the Annotated Edition- Pg.12· Biography - Brother Count Basie Pg. 14· Old Tyler Talks- Pg.20· Word of the Month “Ruffian”.- Pg.26· In the News- Pg. 28· Phoenixmasonry.org - “Scottish Rite Memorabilia” - Pg. 54· Lodge Education- Pg.57

The Working Tools is published monthly by Corsig Publishing & Cory Sigler, It is not affiliated with any Grand Lodge. Letters or inquiries should be directed to Cory Sigler, Editor, at E-mail: [email protected] All let-ters become the property of the Working Tools. Photographs and articles should be sent to the attention of the Editor. Every effort will be made to return photographs but this cannot be guaranteed. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope. The Editor reserves the right to edit all materials received.

Pg 37Cover: The Scottish Rite

mailto:[email protected]

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MAIL BAG

Send all your comments and questions to [email protected]

Greetings Brother Cory! Another fine issue of TWT! You are more than welcome to feature anything of interest at the Phoenixmasonry Masonic Museum and Library! Sincerely,Dave

Thank you Bro. Dave,I think The Phoenixmasonry website is an absolutely amazing re-source that should be on every Masons bookmark list. I publicise it proudly for you as much as I can. Cory

Cory

Is there a way to get a color hard copy of the magazine mailed to me? I would be willing to pay for an annual sub-scription!

Many Thanks!

Brian E.

Thank you for writing to me Bro. Brian. I have researched this possibility from the very beginning of TWT. It just seems like right now it is too expensive to produce unless I had a steady firm commitment from the readers with a cheap enough method that would be economically feasible for you as well. I’m not into this for the profit as much as spreading the word so it would be as close to cost as I can make it.

My downfall is having a 50-60 page issue which increases the expense dramatically. The more pages the more you pay for on demand printing.

I’ll keep looking for a printer that offers a low enough price for you guys.

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OctoberOct 1st- On this date in 1928, the Philalethes Society was organized.

Oct 5th- On this date in 1874, the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma (Indian Territory) was formed.

Oct 11th- On this date in 1911, Franklin D. Roosevelt (U.S. President 1933-1945) received his 1st degree in Holland Lodge #8, New York City.

Oct 13th- On this date in 1778, the Grand Lodge of Virginia was organized.

Oct 14- On this date in 1989, the Grand Lodge of Connecticut recognized the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut. This was the first U.S. recognition of Prince Hall Masonry that remained in force, and led to similar actions by more than 2/3 of all U.S. Grand Lodges.

Oct 15th- On this date in 1794, the Grand Lodge of Vermont was organized.

Oct 16th- On this date in 1800, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky was established

Oct 20th- On this date in 1953, the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel was consti-tuted.

Oct 30th- On this date in 1937, Lyndon B. Johnson (U.S. President 1963-1969) received his 1st degree in Texas.

This Month in History

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weofm.org

WEOFM.org

October 2011 Lectures“The Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry”

10-01-11The Essence of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, Rex. R. Hutchens, PGM, AZ

10-08-11The Lausanne Congress, William Almeida DeCarvalho, PGM, Brazil

10-15-11Part 1: Prince Hall Masonry, Ralph McNeal, MWPHGL, Arizona

10-22-11Part 2: A Triumph in Masonic Spirit, Ralph McNeal, MWPHGL, Arizona

10-29-11 Cuban Freemasonry, Nelson King, PM & Rex R. Hutchens, PGM, AZ

WEOFM.org

http://www.weofm.org

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Awards

Scottish Rite Northern Valley of NJ honors 33° Masonshttp://supremecouncil.org/

Brothers elected to receive the 33rd Degree next year in Cleveland.

Valley of Northern NJ:Thomas J. Prescott (Clifton #203)

Valley of Central Jersey:Gary W. Filson (Union #19)Ian P. Korman (Rising Sun #15)

Valley of Southern NJ:Francis J. Conway (Rising Sun #15)David A. Dorworth (Covenant #161)Mickey J. Guarduci (Atlantic #221)

In addition, the following three Brothers will also be part of thisclass in 2012, as Hurricane Irene disrupted their travel plans forChicago this year:Robert H. Peterson (Azure Masada #22)Martin L. Spacht (Caesarea #64)Glenn R. Trautmann (Acacia #20)(All from the Valley of Northern NJ)

The following Brothers did receive the 33rd Degree this past week inChicago:

Valley of Southern NJ:Leonard March (Laurel #273)

Valley of Central Jersey:Carl H. Doan (Mt. Moriah #28)Raymond E. Foose (Horizon Daylight #299)

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New Book Books to Read This Month

Continued on next page

The Secret Power of Masonic Symbols: The Influence of Ancient Symbols on the Pivotal

Moments in History and an Encyclopedia of All the Key Masonic Symbols

By: Bro. Robert LomasReleased Oct 1st in the United States earlier in Europe. List price: $28.00 Selling at $17.00 on Amazon.com

Product Description

For more than 500 years, the symbology of Freemasonry has fos-tered a secret stream of radical ideas running just beneath the surface of popular culture today. These ideas, illuminated by public

symbols hidden in full view, have influenced and shaped the society we have today. Despite this ongoing record of inspiration, no illustrated guide book to the basic ideas of Masonic Symbology has even been published and the story remains mysterious—until now.

This authoritative guide reveals how this symbology has been the backdrop to key historical events in the histo-ry of humanity from ancient times and how, in more recent times, inspired leaders have harnessed the symbols’ power to bring about change in society. Renowned Freemasonry historian Dr. Robert Lomas takes you inside the Secret Order and shows you how Entered Apprentices first learn their craft, and how continual exposure to these mystical symbols can change the way you think. You’ll explore the six mysterious Tracing Boards that are at the heart of every Masonic Grand Lodge, ending with the final, most mystical symbol, known as “the Centre.” Let The Secret Power of Masonic Symbols be your personal guide and show you how these symbols have made their indelible mark on the past, and how they will continue to influence society in the future.

About the Author

Dr. Robert Lomas is the author of Turning the Templar Key, turning the Solomon Key, The Invisible College, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, The man who invented the twentieth Century. He is the co-author of The Hiram key, The Second Messiah, Uriel’s Machine, and The book of Hiram. A Freemason, he lectures at Brad-ford University in England.

Autographed copies will be available soon on Robert Lomas’ website at

http://robertlomas.com/signed/shop.php

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Books to Read This Month

Product Details

Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Fair Winds Press (October 1, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 1592334504

Customer ReviewThis wonderful book on Masonic symbolism is full of drawings and pictures of Masonic symbols which compli-ment the written text. The Author is convinced Freemasonry is essentially a spiritual quest and practice. So care should be taken to realize that our good Brother, Robert Lomas, speaks only for himself regarding his opinion of what Masonry means and that it is not in the power of any one individual Freemason no matter how many, so called, High Degrees he may have, to speak for the whole Masonic fraternity or individual Master Masons regard-ing what Masonry means. Each individual Master Mason must ultimately work out the meaning of Freemasonry for himself. Good Brothers such as Robert Lomas provide guidance and mentorship for their Masonic Brethren. Now, with this truth in mind we can readily enjoy the contents of this book and the opinions of it’s author.

Some of the contents include: “The hidden influence of Ancient Symbols”, “Why symbols are more powerful than words”, “The power of symbols on the human brain”, “Masonic symbols that changed the U.S. constitution”, and “How symbols created Freemasonry.” Toward the end of the book is a description of all the most ritually impor-tant symbols found within the “Blue Lodges” of American and British Freemasonry followed by the author’s own personal commentaries.

For example, speaking personally about “The Compasses”, Bro. Lomas writes; “The compasses, which rest on the volume of the sacred law, represent the divine principle issued by the Great Architect, which is to be manifested in both the cosmos and in the individual, allowing both to function and be understood in accordance with the laws that govern the universe. The compasses symbolize the range of a discerning mind and it’s ability to measure a Mason’s spirit. Along with the square of bodily form, which is used to try and prove the soul, the compasses delin-eate the shape of a living stone fit to be used in the cosmic temple.”

This book presents a unique take on Masonic symbolism from a Masonic Brother’s perspective and has my full recommendation. Enuff said.

Where to buy

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Power-Masonic-Symbols-Encyclopedia/dp/1592334504/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316878170&sr=1-5

or

http://robertlomas.com/signed/shop.php

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Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma: Annotated Edi-tion, by Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, G\C, K.Y.C.H. 1112 pages. 2011, The Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. Available at http://www.scottishritestore.org/ $75 for the Hardbound Edition, $135 for Special Leatherbound Edition. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freema-sonry, prepared by Albert Pike (then Grand Com-mander of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction) and first published in 1872, is a collection of essays on the Degrees of the Scottish Rite from the 1st to the 32nd. The book was published until 1969, and was given to new 32° Masons until 1974, with the hope that new members would use the book as a guide towards more Light, as the degree ceremonies were intended to provide only an intro-duction to philosophies and moral precepts, with more study necessary to gain a deeper understanding.

In 1974 the gift of Morals and Dogma to new initiates into the Scottish Rite (SJ) was replaced by Clausen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogma,

written by Henry Clausen, 33°, Sovereign Grand Commander, and since 1988 by A Bridge to Light, by Rex Hutchens, 33°, G\C\. Morals and Dogma has been considered many things, but an easy read is not one of them. The book is 861 pages on

various topics, including Freema-sonry, philosophy, religion, the ancient Mysteries, and mythology. I stumbled across a 1950 edi-tion in a used bookstore while in high school, and spent the entire summer reading it and trying to understand what I read with the help of a dictionary and a set of encyclopedias, in that pre-Internet age. It is NOT an easy read. This book led me on my own path towards Freemasonry.

In the Preface to Morals and Dog-ma, Pike states that he is about equally Author and Compiler; and that perhaps it would have been better had he taken more from other authors, and written less himself.

In his preface, de Hoyos, now the Grand Archivist and Grand

Historian for the Scottish Rite (SJ), tells of the story of how he came to create this Annotated Edition. In 1989, he was still fairly new to the Craft, and while reading Godfrey Higgins’ 1836 Anacalypsis, “an inquiry into the origin of languages, nations, and religions,” he recognized some images and text

Book Review - “Morals & Dogma”

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that were virtually identical to those he had read in Morals and Dogma. He wrote a note in the margin of Pike’s book, which began the journey to this An-notated Edition.

De Hoyos describes his research into the source material for Morals and Dogma as “reverse-engineering” and with his substantial and varied interests that included much of this material, as well as having a good memory, he started put-ting source notes and marginalia into his cop-ies of Morals and Dogma. De Hoyos obtained a photocopy of the catalog The Pike Library of the Supreme Council, from about 1890, and used this as a source for where Pike got many of the ideas in his book. De Hoyos availed himself of public and university libraries, and travelled from his home in Texas to Washington, D.C. to study in the Library at the House of the Temple whenever he was able, and used some of the actual books Pike used when crafting Morals and Dogma.

De Hoyos’ work on sourcing all of Pike’s material in Morals and Dogma was a private endeavor, until he was tasked with preparing an annotated edition for republishing the book in 2006. Grand Commander Ronald A. Seale, 33°, was not aware of de Hoyos’ ongoing investigation, but this assignment would encompass what was already done, and would also allow de Hoyos to correct the many typographical and other minor errors which had been repub-lished precisely in each reprinting of the tome. This project allowed de Hoyos to footnote all of Pike’s sources, and to introduce commentary as well. De Hoyos received assistance with the project from Rex Hutchens, 33°, G\C\, 2006 Grand Mas-ter of Masons in Arizona, and author of A Bridge to Light and A Glossary to Morals and Dogma. Dr. Hutchens was also the director of the team which created the current Revised Standard Pike Ritual for the Southern Jurisdiction.

Last year, I contacted de Hoyos, asking if he had access to any copies of the Glossary, as I was in-terested in adding it to my Masonic library, and I was only able to find used copies on Amazon.com

starting at $80. He told me to wait a few months, as he was finishing this edition of Morals and Dogma, and that the Glossary would be included as an ap-pendix.

This book, Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma: An-notated Edition, is massive – over 1100 pages including the index. There is the Glossary, as an appendix, which I would have loved to have had back in those days in the 1980s when I was reading Morals and Dogma for the first, but far from the last, time. There are over 60 pages of introductory and background material, including a section on “Pseudo-Scholarship and the Abuse of Albert Pike” and the “Lucifer” Hoax. In the main section of the book, each page has citations for the sources Pike used and explanatory footnotes. The book is still a challenging read, as Pike was said to have wanted a reader to work for knowledge, rather than having it handed to him, but is now a much easier undertak-ing than it was originally.

From a note at the beginning of the book, and pre-vious editions of Morals and Dogma:Readers are encouraged to read and reflect, and are entirely free to dismiss or reject anything which conflicts with their personal views.

This is a book that I am extremely happy to be able to read; it is something that I have been waiting for, personally, for over 20 years. I highly recommend it for Brothers who are members of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., but much of what is contained within the covers is of great value to any student of Freema-sonry, philosophy, religion, history, etc.

“The Masonic Map” DVDBook Review - “Morals & Dogma”

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Biography - Bro. Count Basie

Bro. William “Count” basieAmerican jazz Singer and composer

(August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence un-der his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison and singers Jimmy Rush-ing and Joe Williams. Basie’s theme songs were “One O’Clock Jump” and “April In Paris”.

Early life

William James Basie was born to Harvey Lee Basie, and Lilly Ann Childs, who lived on Mechanic Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father worked as a coachman and caretaker for a wealthy judge. After automobiles replaced horses, his father became a groundskeeper and handyman for several families in the area. His mother, a piano player who gave Basie his first piano lessons, took in laundry and baked cakes for sale and paid 25 cents a lesson for piano instruction for him.

Basie was not much of a scholar and instead dreamed of a traveling life, inspired by the carnivals which came to town. He only got as far as junior high school. He would hang out at the Palace Theater in Red Bank and

did occasional chores for the management, which got him free admission to the shows. He also learned to operate the spotlights for the vaudeville shows. One day, when the pianist failed to arrive by show time, Basie took his place. Playing by ear, he quickly learned to improvise music appropriate to silent movies.

Though a natural at the piano, Basie preferred drums. However, the obvious talents of another young Red Bank area drummer, Sonny Greer (who was Duke Ellington’s drummer from 1919 to 1951), discour-aged Basie and he switched to piano exclusively by age 15. They played together in venues until Greer set out on his professional career. By then Basie was playing with pick-up groups for dances, resorts, and amateur shows, including Harry Richardson’s “Kings of Syn-copation”. When not playing a gig, he hung out at the local pool hall with other musicians where he picked up on upcoming play dates and gossip. He got some jobs in Asbury Park, New Jersey, playing at the Hong Kong Inn, until a better player took his place.

Early career

Around 1924, he went to Harlem, a hotbed of jazz, liv-ing down the block from the Alhambra Theater. Early after his arrival, he bumped into Sonny Greer, who was

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by then the drummer for the Washingtonians, Duke Ellington’s early band. Soon, Basie met many of the Har-lem musicians who were making the scene, including Willie “the Lion” Smith and James P. Johnson.

Basie toured in several acts between 1925 and 1927, including Katie Krippen and Her Kiddies as part of the Hippity Hop show; on the Keith, the Columbia Bur-lesque, and the Theater Owners Bookers Association (T.O.B.A.) vaudeville circuits; and as a soloist and ac-companist to blues singers Katie Krippen and Gonzelle White. His touring took him to Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Throughout his tours, Basie met many great jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong.

Back in Harlem in 1925, Basie got his first steady job at Leroy’s, a place known for its piano players and its “cutting contests.” The place catered to “uptown celebrities,” and typically the band winged every number without sheet music (using “head” arrangements). He met Fats Waller, who was playing organ at the Lincoln Theater accompanying silent movies, and Waller taught him how to play that instrument (Basie later played organ at the Eblon Theater in Kansas City). As he did with Duke Ellington, Willie “the Lion” Smith helped Basie out during the lean times arranging gigs at house-rent parties, introducing him to other top musicians, and teaching him some piano technique.

In 1928 Basie was in Tulsa and heard Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils, one of the first big bands, which featured Jimmy Rushing on vocals. A few months later, he was invited to join the band, which played mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. It was at this time that he began to be known as “Count” Basie (see Jazz royalty).

The Singers

Basie hitched his star to some of the most famous vo-calists of the 1950s and 1960s, which helped keep the Big Band sound alive and added greatly to his record-ing catalog. Jimmy Rushing sang with Basie in the late 1930s. Joe Williams toured with the band and was fea-tured on the 1957 album One O’Clock Jump, and 1956’s Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings, with “Every Day (I Have the Blues)” becoming a huge hit. With Billy Eckstine on the album Basie-Eckstine Inc., in 1959. Ella Fitzgerald made some memorable recordings with Basie, including the 1963 album Ella and Basie!. With the

‘New Testament’ Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a youthful Quincy Jones, this album proved a swinging respite from her Songbook recordings and constant touring she did during this period. She even toured with the Basie Orchestra in the mid-1970s, and Fitzgerald and Basie also met on the 1979 albums A Classy Pair, Digital III at Montreux, and A Perfect Match, the last two also recorded live at Montreux. In addi-tion to Quincy Jones, Basie was us-ing arrangers such as Benny Carter (Kansas City Suite), Neal Hefti (The Atomic Mr Basie), and Sammy Nes-tico (Basie-Straight Ahead).

Frank Sinatra recorded for the first time with Basie on 1962’s Sinatra-Basie and for a second studio album on 1964’s It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. Jones also arranged and conducted 1966’s live Sinatra at the Sands. In May 1970, Sinatra performed in London’s Royal Festival Hall with the Basie orchestra, in a charity benefit for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Sina-tra later said of this concert “I have a funny feeling that those two nights could have been my finest hour, really. It went so well; it was so thrilling and exciting”.

Basie also recorded with Tony Bennett in the early 1960s



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— their albums together included the live recording at Las Vegas and Strike Up the Band, a studio album. Basie also toured with Bennett, including a date at Carnegie Hall. Other notable recordings were with Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby, and Sarah Vaughan. One of Basie’s big-gest regrets was never recording with Louis Armstrong, though they shared the same bill several times.

Legacy

Count Basie introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and left an influential catalog. Basie is remembered by many who worked for him as being considerate of musicians and their opinions, modest, relaxed, fun-loving, dryly witty, and always enthusiastic about his music.[63] As he summed up the key to his understated style, in his autobiography, “I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter”.

Other cultural connections include Jerry Lewis us-ing “Blues in Hoss’ Flat” from Basie’s Chairman of the Board album, as the basis for his own “Chairman of the Board” routine in the movie The Errand Boy, in which Lewis pantomimed the movements of a corporate executive holding a board meeting. (In the early 1980s, Lewis revived the routine during the live broadcast of one of his Muscular Dystrophy Association telethons). Blues in Hoss’ Flat, composed by Basie band member Frank Foster, was also the longtime theme song of San Francisco and New York radio DJ Al “Jazzbeaux” Col-lins. In addition, Basie is one of the producers of the “world’s greatest music” that Brenda Fricker’s “Pigeon Lady” character claims to have heard in Carnegie Hall in 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Drummer Neil Peart of the Canadian rock band Rush recorded a version of “One O’Clock Jump” with the Buddy Rich Big Band, and has used it at the end of his drum solos on the 2002 Vapor Trails Tour and Rush’s 30th Anniversary Tour.

The Count Basie Theatre and Count Basie Field in his hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey were named in his honor. The street on which he lived, Mechanic Street has the honorary title of Count Basie Way.

On September 26, 2009, Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, were re-named as Paul Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie Place. The corner is the location of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, also known as the Paul Robeson Home, a Na-tional Historic Landmark building where Count Basie and Paul Robeson lived.

Honors and Inductions

On May 23, 1985, William “Count” Basie was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his son, Aaron Woodward.

On September 11, 1996 the U.S. Post Office issued a Count Basie 32 cents postage stamp. Basie is a part of the Big Band Leaders issue, which, is in turn, part of the Legends of American Music series

Freemason

Brother Basie attended Wisdom Lodge No. 102 in Chicago and also was a Shriner. Basie was affliated with Prince Hall Masonry.

Count Basie Theatre- Red bank NJ


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Grand Lodge Spot Light- Arkansas

Grand Lodge F&A.M. of Arkansas

Editor Note- Surprisingly the GL of Arkansas DID NOT have a website up and running. To keep with the continuity of presenting the GL’s in alphbetical order I give you a history of Freemasonry in Arkansas. - Cory


History of Freemasonry

The history of Freemasonry in Arkansas is closely linked to the history of Arkansas. Many of the founders of the state were the leaders and founders of Freemasonry, and the early impact of the fraternity was in education and government. The Grand Lodge established one of the state’s first institutions of higher education, St. Johns' College, in 1859, and in 1853, it established the second public library in Arkansas; both institutions were in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Many of the state’s early governors, judges, representatives, and senators were members of the fraternity.

Freemasonry has been described as a system of moral-ity, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, the goal of which is to take good men and make them better men. It is a fraternity, a gathering of men with a com-mon goal and common beliefs. While not in any sense a religion, it requires of its members a belief in a supreme being and the immortality of the soul. Membership is by a progressive degree system with three degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. A Master Mason has all the rights and privileges of the organiza-tion.

Freemasonry established itself in what would become Arkansas within nine months of Arkansas’s birth as a territory. On December 1, 1819, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky granted a charter to the Masons living in the new territorial capital, Arkansas Post (Arkansas Coun-ty), to establish Arkansas Lodge UD (under dispensa-tion), with Robert Johnson as the first master of the lodge.

Two of the most ardent early Masons were Robert Crit-tenden and Andrew Scott. President James Monroe had appointed them as territorial secretary and judge, respectively, in 1819. The two men established the gov-ernment and laws of the new territory and established the first lodge. The first person made a Master Mason in Arkansas was Colonel James Scull, territorial trea-surer, who received his degree on June 17, 1820. When the legislature moved the capital from Arkansas Post to Little Rock in 1821, Arkansas Lodge Number 59 ceased to be a lodge. Lodge 59 surrendered its charter in 1822, and organized Freemasonry in Arkansas was dormant for the next thirteen years.

As Arkansas moved toward statehood, Freemasonry had a rebirth. On November 5, 1835, the Grand Lodge of Tennessee instituted Washington Lodge Number 82 in Fayetteville (Washington County). Soon after statehood was granted, three more lodges were established: in

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1837, the Grand Lodge of Louisiana instituted Western Star Number 43 in Little Rock and Morning Star Number 42 at Arkansas Post, and the Grand Lodge of Alabama established Mount Horeb in Washington (Hempstead County).

By 1838, there were about 100 Masons in Arkansas’s four lodges. In the government of Freemasons, a lodge must have a charter or authority from a recognized Grand Lodge to work, meet, and initiate new people into the fraternity. In Masonic law, four regularly chartered lodges may unite and establish a Grand Lodge in an area where no other Grand Lodge holds exclusive jurisdiction. This was the case on November 21, 1838, when representatives from the four lodges met in Little Rock and formed the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. The lodges surrendered their charters to the Grand Lodges that had issued them and took new charters from the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. Of the four founding lodges, two remain: Washington Lodge 1 and Western Star Lodge 2. William Gilchrist of Little Rock was elected the first grand master of Masons in Arkansas. Gilchrist served as deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in 1830. He is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, where the Grand Lodge erected a monument to his memory.

The first building erected solely for use as a Masonic lodge hall was in Fayetteville. Future governor Archibald Yell donated the land and $100 to Washington Lodge 1 for that purpose in 1839. (The building survived the Civil War when Union troops under Colonel M. La Rue Harrison occupied the city and took the building for his headquarters. It was reported that Harrison and many of his men were made Masons in Washington Lodge 1, hence its being spared destruction when all other public buildings were leveled.)

Freemasonry, like Arkansas, grew and prospered in the next two decades. Masons from every corner of Arkan-sas established lodges and initiated men until the onset of the Civil War. During the Civil War, the Grand Lodge followed the state’s Confederate government from Little Rock to Washington. Most of the lodges in Arkansas surrendered their charters, their members having gone to war, their buildings occupied or burned, and their

treasuries empty. But even this could not extinguish Masonry. Elbert H. English, chief justice of the state’s Confederate Supreme Court, held together the fraternity during those times.

Before the war, Arkansas Freemasons had made two bold moves. In 1853, they established the library of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas with Albert Pike as chairman. It is the second-oldest library in the state. In 1859, they opened St. Johns' College in Little Rock and educated many of the state’s leaders.

In the decade after the war, Freemasonry was reestab-lished slowly in every section of Arkansas. By the end of the nineteenth century, there were 12,522 Masons in 442 lodges; the “golden age” of Masonry had begun. In No-vember 1938, Freemasons from all over the state traveled to the Albert Pike Masonic Memorial Temple in Little Rock to celebrate their centennial. In 1938, there were 23,641 Master Masons in 434 lodges.

Freemasonry continued its growth and charity work in the twentieth century. The charity endeavors of the Grand Lodge include the laying of the foundation for the Arkansas School for the Blind building; the erection of the Children’s Clinic and Hospital buildings at the Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Booneville (Logan County); the establishment of an orphanage, The Masonic Home, in Batesville (Independence County); the construction of the occupational therapy building at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock; and the granting of hundreds of college scholarships.

Since territorial days, many leaders of business, govern-ment, law, medicine, religion, and education have been Masons. Two—Albert Pike and Fay Hempstead—had a national impact on the fraternity. Pike was a newspaper publisher, lawyer, Confederate general, and justice in Arkansas, and he invigorated and led the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the United States for thirty-two years. In every country where Free-masonry exists, Pike’s name is revered. Hempstead wrote Arkansas’s first school history and served as the grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas from 1881 to 1933. In 1908, he became the third poet laureate of


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Freemasonry, following Robert Burns of Scotland and Robert Morris of Kentucky.

Modern FreemasonryArkansas Masonic membership in 2005 was 17,699 members in 293 lodges. The fraternity practices the tenets of friendship, morality, and brotherly love. The ruling body of Arkansas Masons is the Grand Lodge of Arkansas in the Albert Pike Masonic Memorial Temple in Little Rock.

The history of Freemasonry in Arkansas is still be-ing written. In the twentieth century, the Masons of Arkansas continued their tradition of charity. From the early 1950s to the 1990s, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital was the focus of their work. One of their projects was the contribution of funds to build the hospital’s occupational therapy building. In 1997, the Arkansas Association of Sheltered Workshops became the official charity of the Grand Lodge. A brief survey of notable Arkansans who have been Masons includes Governor George Donaghey; builder and philanthro-pist H. Tyndall Dickinson; businessman Charles E. Rosenbaum, who was also a builder of great Masonic temples; businessman and education advocate Joshua Shepherd; pastor W. O. Vaught Jr.; physician and med-ical educator Francis Vinsonhaler; Congressman Wil-ber Mills; Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt; Governor Orval Faubus; Governor Sidney McMath; attorney and banker William Bowen; and businessman and developer Doyle Rogers.

The mid-1960s saw a drastic change in how society views the relevance and importance of social clubs and fraternal groups, and membership in Masonic orders began a gradual decline. For the most part, lodges in rural and small town Arkansas have merged together, whereas lodges in larger towns and metropolitan areas continue their mission but with fewer members.

African-American FreemasonryPrince Hall Masonry or “Black Masonry” came to Ar-kansas in 1869 when Reverend Moses A. Dickson, an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) preacher, arrived in Helena (Phillips County). The first three Prince

Hall lodges in Arkansas were the Alexander Lodge in Helena, the Jeptha Lodge in Little Rock, and the Widow’s Son Lodge in Fort Smith (Sebastian County). These three lodges came together in 1873 to form the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge (Colored) of Free and Accepted Masons in Arkansas, with Reverend William H. Grey as their first grand master. This Grand Lodge erected a Masonic Temple in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) in 1909. Under Grand Master J. H. Harrison, Prince Hall Masonry’s membership grew to almost 22,000 prior to the Depression. In 2006, there were 3,500 members in eighty-seven lodges.

For additional information:Bullock, Steven C. Revolutionary Brotherhood. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Jacob, Margaret C. The Origins of Freemasonry. Phila-delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.

Kidd, F. W. Arkansas Freemasonry. Little Rock: 1908.

Library of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. They Made a Difference…Arkansas’ Freemasons. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., Inc., 2003.

Talbert, Mark. American Freemasons. New York: New York University Press, 2005.

Dick E. BrowningMaumelle, Arkansas

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Old Tyler Talks


Does the third degree of Masonry mean something else than what it says?" The New Mason sat beside the bearer of the sword in the ante-room and offered his cigar case.

"What does it say?" Inquired the Old Tiler, extracting a cigar and light-ing it.

"Why, you know what it says I Fancy asking me that! Any one would think you never saw one!"

"Oh, I have seen many a third degree," answered the Old Tiler. "So have a lot of other men. But the third degree seems to say something different to each man who receives it, and to all who see it. So before I answer as to whether it means something different to what it says, I will have to know what it says to you, won't I"

"But that's just the point! I don't know what it means to me!" Cried the New Mason. "It's all so new and strange. It must have a deeper inner meaning than just the ceremony. It can't be just a repetition of what may or may not have been a historical fact!"

The Old Tiler puffed at his cigar. "I think the third degree of Freemasonry is one of the most beautiful of the symbols which mankind has ever erected, to teach himself what he already knows, to teach others what they must know. Its immediate and obvious lessons are fidelity to trust, fortitude in face of danger, the fact that the good a man does lives after him, the inevitability of justice. But there are other teachings-immortality, for instance."

"I can see that the Master degree teaches immortality," responded the New Mason, eagerly, "and that the drama can be interpreted as one of resurrection. Indeed, the ritual so explains part of it."

"There is an inner meaning to the teaching of immortality," continued the Old Tiler. "Have you a piece of string with only one end?""What? There isn't any such thing! It either has no ends, if it is in a circle, or two ends."

The Old Tiler looked his questioner in the eye. "Immortality can't have one end only, either! Anything that is to con-tinue to live forever must always have lived. If it had a finite beginning, it must have a finite end I"

"Do you mean that Freemasonry teaches the theory of reincarnation-that we have all lived before, and will again?" Demanded the New Brother, aghast. "I am no Buddhist!"

"I don't mean anything of the kind!" Explained the Old Tiler. "The Buddhist theory of reincarnation is only one way of

“Indictment” by Carl H. Claudy

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Old Tyler Talks

using the idea of immortality which has neither beginning nor ending. Surely it is possible to believe that the im-mortal part of us, which must have come from God, his always lived, without thinking that it has lived in the body of some other man, or in an animal, as the animists believe. But I do not see how anyone who believes in endless life, can also believe that our souls began when our bodies were born.

"If I am to be immortal in the future, and have a soul which has been immortal in the past, I must have an immor-tal soul now. I am just as much in immortality and eternity at the present moment as 1 will be when my body is in the brow of a hill, and the brethren have invested my mortal remains with a lambskin apron and a sprig of acacia has been dropped upon my lifeless form.

"So that I must hunt farther than a mere teaching of immortality to extract the inner meaning of the third degree. I do not need a Master Mason degree to teach me the common sense of a piece of string which has only one end!

"All men are, in one sense, haunted houses. The ghosts of their long dead ancestors rise up and walk with them, The good man who does something wrong, the clever man who does something stupid, the stupid man who does something enormously clever, i’m haunted with the ghosts of those from whose loins he sprang. We are not just one person, but a lot of persons. We have an everyday self, and a better self; a selfish, self-seeking self, and a self-sacrificing, loving self. Sometimes one is in control and sometimes another.

"The third degree is to me not only the teaching of immortality of the soul, but the raising of my better self in my own house-my 'temple not made with hands.' It teaches me how to subdue my passions-my selfish and inconsid-erate self-and to allow my better self, my Master Builder self, to rise from wherever my 'brow of a hill' is, in which the ruffians of selfishness, meanness, dishonesty have buried him, to shine eternal as the stars, within me."

The Old Tiler paused. The New Mason broke his spell to ask, "Old Tiler, did you ever study to be a preacher?"

"I don't know enough!" he answered laughing. "What put such an idea in your head?"

"Maybe you don't know enough to preach," was the slow answer. "But you certainly know enough to teach. When next I see a third degree it will be with new eyes."

"That's nice of you." The Old Tiler was pleased. "My ideas are just thoughts of a common Mason."

"They are the common thoughts of the best Mason!" declared the New Brother.

Old Tyler Talks

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Grand Lodge Spot Light

“The Masonic Map” DVD


WWW.THEMASONICMAP.COM

About Bro. Jospeh James

Joseph James started his career as an actor in Hol-lywood and is now and award winning Direc-tor and Producer. He is an associate producer of the feature film, Hillbilly Highway and he won an award of merit from the Accolade international film competition for directing the feature film “The Masonic Map”. He

has been on over fifty different film sets including reality TV, documentaries, pilots, feature films, live TV and short films. He is a Knights Templar and Freemason. He is also a 32nd degree Mason in the Scottish Rite. He is also the founder of Joseph James Films and Actors Film Academy.

The Story of the Masonic Map

Long ago, the Freemasons unearthed the Ark of the Cov-enant beneath Solomon’s Temple and in 1502 carried the sacred relic across the Atlantic, to the New World. They entrusted its safety to the Ute Native Americans of what would eventually become Utah

Many sought the magical relic… outlaw Porter Rockwell came close to finding it. However he died before he could decipher its location from a mysterious Masonic map.

The power and lure of the Ark cannot be overstated. The CIA has begun killing Rockwell's descendants; trying to confiscate the map in the name of national security.

A group of Utah Valley University students are now forced into an unexpected world of conspiracies, legends and Masonic codes... as they follow the Masonic Map and discover the ultimate truth.

The Masonic Map in the news

From the UVU Review“Student made film to premiere at SLC Masonic Temple”

It’s a movie about Porter Rockwell, Free Masons, ancient bloodlines and the Ark of the Covenant. Oh, and UVU students. “The Masonic Map,” which was written and di-rected by senior Communications major Joseph James, is set to have its Utah premiere in downtown Salt Lake City. As James describes it, the movie “a story about a Masonic bloodline that protects a sacred relic.”

“The Mason Map” stars UVU students playing UVU students caught in an adventure.

The independent film, set to premiere on Sept. 10, recent-ly gained some international attention after winning the Award of Merit from the Accolade competition. Accord-ing to its website, the Accolade gives awards to “those filmmakers, television producers, videographers and new media creators who produce fresh, standout productions. It is a showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices.”

The film’s premiere will take place at the Masonic Temple in downtown Salt Lake City. The movie’s story involves Freemasons and their ties to Porter Rockwell and sacred religious relics. James, who is a Freemason himself, even received permission to film inside of the Masonic Temple in Provo, something that has never been done before. It was this act of breaking new ground that James believes helped win the Award of Merit from the Accolade. “No



secrets were revealed. I tried to respect all that while still pushing the edge,” James said. James has also received emails from Freemasons from all over the world, ap-plauding his efforts to shed a positive light on Freema-sons.

James worked in conjunction with over 50 other Utah locals over an eight-month period to complete the film, often fulfilling multiple jobs. Actors helped with tech-nical aspects, such as filming and costumes. “It was a pleasure to work with everyone,” James said. James also described the amount of talent that exists in Utah, espe-cially here in Utah valley.

Besides the Provo Masonic Temple, other scenes were filmed in Utah, such as up Rock Canyon or at Utah Lake. “I love filming in Utah,” James said. “It’s one of the best places to film in the country.”

James credits his education here at UVU for the success of not only his film but the start of his career. “Profes-sors Steven Hall and Phil Gordon taught me things that put me on the right track,” James said. Phil Gordon is an associate professor in the Communications department, while Steven Hall is an adjunct instructor for the Hu-manities and Philosophy departments.

The premiere is set to be a red-carpet event and is com-pletely free, giving the public a rare chance to see the inside of the Masonic temple. James hopes the event will be a fun experience for everyone. “You can to dress up if you want,” James said. “You’re welcome to bring a cam-era, take pictures with the cast and crew and even walk down the red carpet.” James also hopes the premiere will usher in “ a new era of Utah film making.”

Accolade Competition Award Winner

The Masonic Map Wins an Award in the Accolade Competition

(Salt Lake, City, Utah July 11, 2011) – Joseph James, of Joseph James Films, has won a prestigious Award of Merit from The Accolade Competition. The award was given for the feature film, The Masonic

Map, an exciting historical fiction drama, The Ma-sonic Map, gives insights into the mysterious world of Freemasonry and spins in the CIA, Native Amer-icans as well as elements of fact and fiction.

“We could not have won this award without the devotion of the cast and crew,” said Director Joseph James.

The Accolade recognizes film, television, videogra-phy and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Entries are judged by highly qualified professionals in the film and television industry. Information about The Ac-colade and a list of recent winners can be found at www.theaccolade.net.

In winning an Accolade, Joseph James Films joins the ranks of other high-profile winners of this inter-nationally respected award. Thomas Baker, Ph.D., who chairs The Accolade, had this to say about the latest winners, “The Accolade is not an easy award to win. Entries are received from around the world. The Accolade helps set the standard for craft and creativity. The judges were pleased with the ex-ceptionally high quality of entries. The goal of The Accolade is to help winners achieve the recognition they deserve.”

Review

Joseph was kind enough to ship me a copy of “The Masonic Map” DVD in time for me to review the movie for this months issue.

What I found was a fun quick paced action movie that had hints of “National Treasure”, ‘DaVinci Code”, and “Indian Jones” mixed together with an independent film.

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What I found endearing the most was knowing the budget for this movie was a probably a frac-tion of what some films have for just their catering alone. They made the film using actors from the Utah area who found the experience of working on this film more important than getting a hefty paycheck. They did it for the art of it!

Talking to Joseph on the phone I mentioned that it reminded me of Kevin Smith’s first movie “Clerks” that was made for $24,000 but became a cult classic in time.

For the Freemasons who will be watching the movie they will enjoy the Masonic lore inter-twined in the dialogue and scenery. Some shots were taken inside of a real Lodge with actors wearing Masonic regalia.

The DVD has some special features like deleted scenes, and a making of. For the price that the movie is selling for, I don’t think you can go wrong.

This is the first in a planned three part series. I look forward to watching Bro. Joseph grow as a movie maker, director and actor.

Next upThe writing for the scrip of the 2nd movie called “Templar Nation” has started and budget has been set.

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpZ9TjTpRfg&feature=player_embedded

www.themasonicmap.com

https://sites.google.com/site/josephjamesfilms/

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ADVERTISMENT

ADVERTISMENT

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Masonic Symbolism & Words Brought to you by

Www.masonicdictionary.com

This Month’s Word is

“Ruffians”

Word of the Month - Ruffians

The traitors of the Third Degree are called Assassins in Continental Freemasonry and in the advanced Degrees. The English and American Freemasons have adopted in their instructions the more homely appel-lation of Ruffians. The fabricators of the high Degrees adopted a variety of names for these Assassins (see Assassins of the Third Degree), but the original names are preserved in the instructions of the York and American Rites. There is no question that has so much perplexed Mason-ic antiquaries as the true derivation and meaning of these three names. In their present form, they are confessedly uncouth and without apparent signification.. Yet it is certain that we can trace them in that form to the earliest appearance of the legend of the Third Degree, and it is equally certain that at the time of their adoption some meaning must have been at-tached to them. Brother Mackey was convinced that this must have been a very simple one, and one that would have been easily comprehended by the whole of

the Craft, who were in the constant use of them.

Attempts, it is true, have been made to find the root of these three names in some recondite reference to the Hebrew names of God. But there is in Doctor Mack-ey's opinion, no valid authority for any such deriva-tion. In the first place, the character and conduct of the supposed possessors of these names preclude

the idea of any congruity and appropriateness between them and any of the divine names. And again, the literary condi-tion of the Craft at the time of the invention of the names equally precludes the probability that any names would have been fabri-

cated of a recondite signification, and which could not have been readily understood and appreciated by the ordinary class of Freemasons who were to use them. The names must naturally have been of a construction

http://Www.masonicdictionary.com

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Word of the Month - Ruffians

that would convey a familiar idea would be suitable to the incidents in which they were to be employed, and would be congruous with the character of the individuals upon whom they were to be bestowed.

Now all these requisites meet in a word which was entirely familiar to the Craft at the time when these names were probably invented. The Ghiblim are spoken of by Anderson, meaning Ghiblim, as stonecutters or Masons; and the early amounts show us very clearly that the Fraternity in that day considered Giblim as the name of a Mason; not only of a Mason generally, but especially of that class of Masons who, as Drummond says, "put the finish-ing hand to King Solomon's Temple"-that is to say the Fellow Crafts. Anderson also places the Ghiblim among the Fellow Crafts; and so, very naturally, the early Freemasons, not imbued with any amount of Hebrew learning, and not making a distinction between the singular and ph1ral forms of that lan-guage, soon got to calling a Fellow Craft a Giblim.

The steps of corruption between Giblim arid Jilbe-lum were not very gradual; nor can anyone doubt that such corruptions of spelling and pronunciation were common among these illiterate Freemasons, when he reads the Old Manuscripts, and finds such verbal distortions as Nembroch for Nimrod, Eaglet for Euclid, and Aymon for Hiram. Thus, the first corruption was from Giblim to Gibalim, which brought the word to three syllables, making it thus nearer to its eventual change. Then we find in the early works another transformation into Chibbe-lum. The French Freemasons also took the work of corruption in hand, and from Giblim they manu-factured Jiblime and Jibulum and Habmlum. Some of these Freneh corruptions came back to English Freemasonry about the time of the fabrication of the advanced Degrees, and even the French words were distorted. Thus in the Iceland Manuscript, the English Freemasons made out of Pytagore, the French for Pythagoras, the unknown name Peter Gower, which is said so much to have puzzled John Locke.

So we may through these mingled English and French corruptions trace the genealogy of the word Jubelum; thus, Ghiblim, Giblim, Gibalim, Chib-belum, Jiblime, Jibelum, Jabelum, rind, finally, Jubelum. It meant simply a Fellow Craft, and was appropriately given as a common name to a par-ticular Fellow Graft who vas distinguished for his treachery. In other words, he was designated, not by a special and distinctive name, but by the title of his condition and rank at the Temple.

He was the Fellow Craft, who was at the head of a conspiraey. As for the names of the other two Ruf-fians, they were readily constructed out of that of the greatest one by a simple change of the termina-tion of the word from um to a in one, and from um to o in the other, thus preserving, by a similarity of names, the idea of their relationship, for the old works said that they were Brothers who had come together out of Tyre. This derivation to Doctor Mackey seems to be easy, natural, and compre-hensible. The change from Giblim, or rather from Gibalim to Jubelum, is one that is far less extraordi-nary than that which one half of the Masonic words have undergone in their transformation from their original to their present form.

- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

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Brother Submitted In The News

“THE 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW: S. Brent Morris” The Washington Examiner

Morris is a cryptologic mathematician and author and expert on Freemasonry. He is the D.C.-based managing editor of the Scottish Rite Journal of the Su-preme Council.

What is Freemasonry?

It's a fraternity, in the term of Delta Sigma Phi at college, or the Moose Lodge, or the Knights of Columbus. We've got about 1.3 million members and 10,000 lodges in the United States.

Aren't a few presidents and other notable people Freemasons?

Fourteen presidents have been Freemasons. Gerald Ford was the most recent. George Washington was a Freemason, as was Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, the Marquis de Lafayette and Henry Ford. Harry Houdini was also a Free-mason, and so is Richard Dreyfuss.

How did the Freemasons develop such a mysterious reputation?

The original Freemasons were a trade guild, and the earliest lodge minutes we have, from 1588 in Edinburgh, Scot-land, they are reprimanding one of their members for hiring a non-lodge member.

But by 1717 in London, it's gentlemen who are running the lodges, they are not working with their hands or in con-nection with the building trades. One of the great mysteries of the history of Freemasons is just what exactly hap-pened to cause this transition.

Is there a secret handshake?

They had secret means of identifying each other, like secret handshakes and passwords. That is because they had to travel to do their work. If you are going to maintain any kind of union consistency of tradesmen and craftsmen, you have to have a way to identify members.

Any truth to the Freemason conspiracy theories?

You read stories that we are trying to infiltrate the government and run it for ourselves, but that's not true. The repu-tation is a whole lot bigger than the reality.

-- Susan Ferrechio

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/people/2011/09/3-minute-inter-view-s-brent-morris#ixzz1XaYeniqh

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In The News

“Masonic Temple Vandalized in Cap-Haïtien”

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (defend.ht) - A freemason temple was vandalized in the northern city of Cap-Haitien on Saturday night, less than a month after the desecration of the cathedral in the same city.

"They destroyed everything, everything that was inside the building: bible, throne chairs, a com-plete desecration of the temple," an official of the temple, Karol Muscadin, told the AFP.

This act was not claimed, but leaflets were found on the site accusing Freemasonry of being a "group of criminals who use the bible to hide their true face."

'Just as the Catholic Church, the Freemasons are working for Lucifer, abandon these religions to fol-low Jesus in another church,'

Le Nouvelliste read the document, written in Creole.

In August, unidentified men ransacked the cathedral Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city, destroying sacred objects and statues of saints.

"Freemasonry is a universal institution, I do not see why you attack us," said Muscadin, reached by phone.

Despite the new police chief offering a reward of 50,000 HTG provided to any persons who can pro-vide information on the individuals who vandalized the Cathedral of Cap-Haitien, no one has been arrested and the investigation continues.

http://defend.ht/news/articles/crime/1631-masonic-temple-vandalized-in-cap-haitien

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In The News In The News

A COUPLE of things Roger Farris wants to make clear from the start: there’s no naked chest beating, there’s no drinking wine from skulls and there’s no shadowy pacts of illegal loyalty.

The 78-year-old Master of Sheffield’s oldest freemason lodge thinks for a second.

But...

“There are secrets I won’t discuss,” he says. “Secrets about ceremonies, rituals, passwords. Nothing to cause con-cern but part of one’s obligation is to keep them secret. I’m an honourable man and I won’t break that obliga-tion.”

Welcome, reader, to Tapton Masonic Hall.

Here in this grand building off Fulwood Road a very special, but perhaps little known, anniversary is being celebrated. Sheffield’s oldest freemason group, the Bri-tannia Lodge No 139 is 250 years old.

For two and a half centuries, this brethren of men have donned their aprons, rolled up their trousers (“that one is true,” says Roger), and swore obligations on pains of having their throat cut...

In fact, that last one isn’t quite right any more. The threat of throat slashing was only ever symbolic and feeling it overly gruesome the penalty was removed from the lodge’s oath in 1986.

Less headline-grabing, the fraternity also does a huge amount of charity work - the Freemasons are the larg-est givers to charity in the UK apart from the National Lottery - seek self-improvement and enjoy the society of like-minded men.

That’s something else Roger wants to make clear.

“There are a lot of myths about freemasonry, perhaps because of those secrets,” says the retired company secre-tary. “But, above all else, this is a fraternal and charitable organisation.

“Britannia Lodge has just given £10,000 to St Luke’s Hos-pice and we have a lovely social side where we have din-ner after meetings which themselves sometimes include educational lectures.

“There are rituals too and I personally enjoy the theatri-cal element of that. There are three degrees of being a freemason and each time one progresses, there is a cer-emony. I won’t go into what takes place because it would ruin it but it is all a performance.”

It has ever been thus.

Indeed, one inventory dating back to 1764 hints at the nature of said performance, revealing the lodge owned “four truncheon” and a “large sandbag”.

If that reveals a little about the history, however, much of the origins remain shrouded in mystery.

We know the lodge was founded by a chap called J D Preston, who became first Master, but who he was or why he set it up remains unclear.

Roger, who joined the lodge in 1969 after being proposed by his father, reckons it could have been because soldiers stationed in Sheffield in the mid-18th century brought the idea from the south.

Early members included inn keepers, solicitors and gentlemen, while the group was nomadic for its first 100 years based in various different locations including a room in Paradise Square.

It eventually settled in 1879 in a specially built building in Surrey Street, today The Graduate pub, before moving

“Milestone for Masons”


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to Tapton Hall in the 1960s.

Now in 2011 there are about 900 masons in Sheffield in 26 different lodges at Tapton Hall, and another 12 in Dore.

“It makes you proud to be part of something with such history,” says Roger, whose son Timothy is also a mem-ber. “There are people who say it has no place in the modern age but I disagree. Freemasons do a tremendous amount of good work and offers its brethren real camaraderie. I just hope Britannia Lodge will celebrate its 500th anniversary.”

http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/the-diary/milestone_for_masons_1_3743307

Britannia Lodge No 139 Celebrates 250th Anniversary

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“Freemasons: Three degrees of revelation”http://www.humeweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/freemasons-three-degrees-of-revelation/2300822.

aspx?storypage=0#

For years people across the world have regarded Freemasons as being part of a club shrouded in secrecy. Freema-sonry is the oldest and largest existing fraternity in the world. Its members say it is neither a religion nor a cult. It has more than five million members worldwide and numbers continue to grow. Charlotte Azzopardi unravels the secrets behind the mysterious group.

"People seem to think it’s a secret, but it’s not,’’ says John Burgess, a freemason for 50 years.

‘‘There’s little bits and pieces of it that are distinctly peculiar to Freemasonry that only freemasons know. But if you go on the internet you can find what-ever you like about it.’’

But it wasn’t always like that. Rumours that it was a secret cult, religion or world government were whispered behind the backs of men who gath-ered, dressed in identical clothing, for reasons no one knew.

Today that’s something freemasons laugh off.

‘‘It’s a shame people think like that,’’ says Darley resident Gary Vaughan. ‘‘I’ve told people I’m a freemason. Some of them are intrigued and some people say I’m in a cult. It’s not a cult. It’s nothing like that. It’s not about religion either.’’

Freemasons promote a way of life that brings like-minded men together in a brotherhood. The principles are based

on tolerance, equality, charity, honour, morality and self-development.

Mr Vaughan, 34, is relatively new to Freemasonry, having just completed the three degrees required to become a master mason — the entry level rank in the lodge.

But it’s something that he grew up knowing about. His uncle, cousins and brothers are freemasons in England.

‘‘It’s something I always thought I wanted to do ... I’m interested in the history side of it and the so-called secrets were intriguing to learn. They’re not hardcore secrets, just a way of iden-tifying fellow freemasons.

‘‘My older brother is quite proud that I’ve joined. I’m going home [to Eng-land] in March and he wants me to see his lodge. We’ve got a lot of respect for each other as freemasons. It’s not the sort of thing people do every day.’’

At monthly meetings men gather at the lodge, practising ceremonies for upcoming initiations, teaching younger freemasons, and listening to their colleagues deliver speeches on chosen topics.

The idea behind the requirement to de-liver speeches — known as ‘‘charges’’ — in front of the lodge to fellow masons is to teach members how to speak pub-licly, sometimes in front of hundreds of people.

Freemasons are benevolent people.

They have raised thousands of dollars for charity. It’s just they don’t talk about it. It’s there to benefit the community, through freemasons’ homes, hospitals and aged care places.

‘‘It teaches good men to be better,’’ Mr Vaughan says. ‘‘You’re surrounded by good people who have done the same initiations as you and the same work. It keeps you in check with yourself and you learn from good people.’’

Conclusive records on the beginnings of Freemasonry don’t exist. Some scholars argue that it can be traced as far back as the 1300s. The most widely held belief is that modern Freemasonry evolved from the stonemasons’ guilds in 17th century England.

The theory suggests that guilds started the movement to admit non-craftsmen

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to help spread moral and spiritual ideas.

That is how Rob Hamilton, from the Zetland lodge in Kyneton, explains the layout of the lodge room.

‘‘Tradition says that the lodge is where the masons came to get their instruc-tions for their work of the day. The master of the lodge would have been the chief architect. There were two guards on the door and they had to be given a password for people to come in. It’s where they also came to get paid so if they didn’t have the correct password for their level they wouldn’t get paid ... This is really a work site administration.’’

All lodges look the same inside. Talis-mans, statues and symbols adorn the walls, but they’re covered by small cur-tains when non-members enter. The middle of the floor is decorated with a striking black and white check carpet.

New freemasons enter the lodge as an entered apprentice. It takes 12 months to move through what are called ‘‘de-grees’’ to become a master mason.

The worshipful master of the Zetland lodge is 76-year-old Bill Allen, who was initiated as a freemason 45 years ago.

‘‘You get to know each other and you rely on each other. You’ve got to be able to rely on the bloke next to you. Wherever you go there are always freemasons. Certain phrases give them away or you might go down the street and there’s a certain manner in them, you can tell by that.’’

Geoff Ralph, 40, joined the Melton lodge six years ago and has since

worked his way up to the role of wor-shipful master.

‘‘The more you get exposed to it the more you want to learn. It’s steeped in history. My great grandfather was a freemason for 40 years. It intrigued me. I’ve looked back through all of his army records and wondered why he joined.’’

Freemasonry is suffused with symbol-ism that goes back centuries. The most obvious is the clothing masons wear. At monthly meetings each man wears a dinner suit, bow tie, apron and white gloves.

‘‘The gloves came about so no one could tell what job you did. Whether you were a labourer or a surgeon, if it’s covered no one knows. Everyone is treated on what we call ‘the level’ — equal,’’ Mr Ralph says.

The identical dinner suit is for the same reason.

‘‘The apron is very symbolic of stone masons. You’ll start off with a plain white one and that’s the first degree.’’

Most freemasons are following in the footsteps of a brother, father or grand-father. But not all. Hoppers Cross-ing resident Oliver Hodnik moved to Australia when he was six and he had never heard of freemasonry. He’s the first person in his family to join a lodge.

‘‘I like the idea of something exclusive. It’s a club, that’s what it is, a club of people and a club of friends. There’s a lot of networking and a lot of friends to be made. I like that aspect because I haven’t had much of an older person’s influence in my life. I grew up with-

out my grandparents because we’ve always been separated so it’s nice to get around with some of the old blokes and all the knowledge you absorb from them.’’

At 73, John Burgess is celebrating his 50th year as a freemason. He wears his uniforms and medals with immense pride, having been introduced to the group by his grandfather.

‘‘My grandfather was a great influence in my life. He used to talk about all sorts of things. We’d sit down, just a couple of blokes yapping away. When I’d just turned 18 he asked me if I’d like to join the freemasons.’’

Mr Burgess of Subury, didn’t take up the offer until he was 21 and he wore his grandfather’s apron at his initiation ceremony.

‘‘Freemasonry is a good thing to belong to. There’s nothing sordid about it. It’s absolutely amazing. You’ll be standing around at an event and someone will say one word and GOT-CHA! It’s like a code, you’ve got to be aware of what’s being said and there it is, you’ve met another mason. Some people think it’s a little bit old world, and it is old. But that’s the beauty of it all too.

‘‘Secrets and mysteries make it inter-esting. It’s when you know all about it that the gloss wears off. But in my case it’s become a lifelong thing.’’


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Bro. Scott Schwartzberg


While taking the Master Craftsman course from the Scottish Rite (SJ), I read an interesting passage On page 58 of Rex Hutchens’ A Bridge to Light:

For those who have received their initial Masonic instruction in Symbolic Lodge where the assassins are executed in the 3rd Degree, the drama of the Elu of the Nine may be confusing. The Scottish Rite degrees differ markedly from those of the York Rite Symbolic Lodge with respect to this portion of the allegory. The assas-sins are not apprehended in the Master's Degree but in the 9th and 10th Degrees.

This was my first realization that there were other ver-sions of the Degrees of the Symbolic Lodge. I began to look, and found that Albert Pike had written De-grees for the Scottish Rite. In Pike’s The Porch and the Middle Chamber: The Book of the Lodge, on page 14:

This Ritual is intended for instruction only, in the

States of the Southern Jurisdiction, where there are not Lodges working in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; to be studied and understood before investiture with the Fourth Degree. For, without it, the system of that Rite is incomplete, and even like a fabric without foundation.

According to Art de Hoyos, “although the ritual was intended for instruction only, it was withdrawn from circulation following Pike's death. Some Masons ex-pressed concern that it might supplant the ritual used by the State Grand Lodges, or give the false impres-sion that the Scottish Rite sought control over the Blue Lodge.”

I was talking about this ritual to a Brother, who had recently returned from a trip to the Dominican Re-public, where he had taken advantage of the oppor-tunity to observe a Scottish Rite Entered Apprentice Degree. Knowing that the ritual was still practiced,

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I then discovered that there were several Lodges in New Orleans who worked this ritual. We approached the Secretary of our Scottish Rite Valley, to seek per-mission to exemplify the Scottish Rite version of the Degree.

We obtained a copy of the ritual used in Louisiana, and approval from both the Sovereign Grand Com-mander of the Scottish Rite (SJ) and the Grand Mas-ter of Masons in Florida to exemplify this ritual. We would not be able to initiate, pass, or raise an actual candidate, but could use one who was already raised.

With the assistance of Brethren from several Lodges, we proceded to exemplify each of the Scottish Rite Craft Degrees, one each month, over three monthly meetings of the Consis-tory. We opened these meetings to all regular Master Masons, to expand the opportunity to observe the Degrees. For assistance in preparing the Degrees, several Brothers of my Lodge who were initially made Masons in a Scottish Rite Lodge in Haiti were to prove invaluable.

Entered Apprentice

The opening of the Entered Apprentice Degree was the first indication that something different was about to be witnessed. The Master Expert (Senior Deacon) brought the “Candidate” to the Chamber of Reflection, where he was surrounded by symbols of mortality. There were bones in the chamber, and a skull with a lit candle on a writing desk, a coffin, and the acronym “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.”, which can refer both to the ancient name for sufuric acid (vitriol), and the Latin phrase “Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem,” “Visit the interior of the earth and rectifying (purifying) you will find the hidden stone.” This is the famed “Philosopher’s Stone” of alchemy, a legendary substance capable of turning base metals into gold.

One of the major differences in this Degree was that there was not a lecture at the end, but much of the same information from the lecture that I am familiar with was delivered throughout the ritual itself.

The Candidate is conducted around the Lodge on three “voyages” emblematical of the alchemical ele-ments of Earth, Water, and Fire, and on each of these voyages, the Candidate undergoes a trial by that par-ticular element, first being alone in the world, then purified by water, finally using fire to separate the pure from impure.

After the Obligation, the Candidate is presented the Working Tools of this Degree, and he proceeds to use

them on the Rough Ashlar.

Fellowcraft

One of the more startling moments for me in the Fellowcraft Degree came when I realized that the Brother was not hoodwinked during the ritual at all.

The voyages undertaken by the Brother on this journey are five in number, the number being special to the Fellowcraft Degree. During these voyages, the Brother carries one or more of the Working Tools of

an Operative Mason, using them in some way, after which the Worshipful Master explains the invention of each of the tools. After the obligation, the Work-ing Tools of this Degree are presented, and are the same as in our ritual, although in the Louisiana ritual, the Brother physically uses the Tools on the Smooth Ashlar to “finish his work.”

The seat of a Fellow Craft, in Scottish Rite Lodge, is in the South Corner, to work as a Fellow Craft, and also in the Northeast Corner, to assist the Entered Ap-prentice Masons.



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Master Mason

For the first part of this Degree, the Brother is again able to see. He is not hoodwinked until the second part.

The Fellowcraft seeks to enter the Lodge by the benefit of the Word of Pass. This causes the Senior Warden to react, and inform the Worshipful Master of this development. At this point in the Scottish Rite ver-sion, it becomes clear that a crime seems to have been committed, the Worshipful Master believing that the Fellowcraft must have been involved, as he is in pos-session of the Word of Pass.

The Senior Warden retires to examine the Fellowcraft twice, one time looking for blood on his hands or clothing, returning with the apron, and the second time, looking for clues regarding the G\M\ He then finds out that the Fellowcraft isnot in possession of the Word of Pass, but that the Master Expert, his friend and conductor, has it for him, and will communicate it for him at the proper time and place.

There is a second section of the Scottish Rite Master Mason Degree, as there is in the Florida ritual. The newly obligated Brother assumes the same role as in the Florida ritual, with a similar enactment of the fol-lowing events. The three ruffians call upon themselves terrible imprecations for violating each of the Obliga-tions, showing us differences between our versions of the Obligations for each of these Degrees.

The Worshipful Master gives an explanation of how our G\M\H\A\, who stood for Truth, Fidelity, and Justice, was waylaid by Ignorance, Falsehood, and Ambition, in the form of three assassins. These ca-lamities still cause the ruins of nations, and the three assassins remain at large. Their fate will be discovered as the Brother continues his work, advancing in the Scottish Rite.

Afterword

As a result of the success of the exemplifications of these Degrees, the Sovereign Grand Commander of

the Scottish Rite (SJ) has ruled that all Southern Ju-risdiction Valleys can exemplify these Degrees. Valley Secretaries should contact the Supreme Council, as well as their Grand Lodge, for permission to proceed.

The author of this paper was Initiated, Passed, and Raised in New Jersey. He is currently Junior Deacon at Boynton Lodge No. 236 in Boynton Beach, Florida, and a member and officer in the Scottish Rite Val-ley of Lake Worth (SJ) and Ft. Lauderdale York Rite Bodies. He has attended Degrees in New Jersey, Mas-sachussetts and Florida, finding them to be substan-tially the same.

ReferencesDe Hoyos, Art, 33°, G\C\. Scottish Rite Monitor and Guide, 2nd Edition – Revised and Enlarged, 2009. Washington, DC. The Supreme Council, 33°

Duncan, Malcolm C. Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor. 1866.

Florida Masonic Code. The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida. 1995.

Hutchens, Rex R., 33°, G\C\. A Bridge to Light, 3rd Edition, 2006. Washington, DC. The Supreme Council, 33°

Pike, Albert. The Porch and the Middle Chamber: Book of the Lodge. 1872.

Pike, Albert. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. 1871.

Ritual of the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason Degrees for Exclusive Use of the Scot-tish Rite Blue Lodges Working Under the Jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana. Revised 1963.



Cover- The Scottish Rite

“The purpose of the Scottish Rite, simply stated, is to seek that which is the most worth in the world; to exalt the dignity of every person, the human side of our daily activities, and the maximum service to humanity; to aid mankind’s search in

God’s universe for identity, for development and for destiny, and thereby achieve better men in a better world, happier men in a happier world and wiser men in a wiser world.”


I. History of the Rite This material is taken from S. Brent Morris, The Com-plete Idiot’s Guide to Freemasonry, Chapter 9: The Scot-

tish Rite (New York: Alpha Books/Penguin, 2006). © by S. Brent Morris. All Rights Reserved.

The Origins of the Scottish Rite

Like so much early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are hidden in mist. There’s evidence that by the early 1730s in England there were “Scotch Masons” or “Scots Master Masons,” a step after the Master Mason Degree (and apparently unrelated to Scotland). By 1742 in Berlin there was talk of “higher or so-called Scottish Masonry.” In 1743 the Grand Lodge of France adopted a regulation limiting the privileges of “Scots Masters” in lodges. It’s clear from these few mentions that something was going on behind the scenes with “Scottish Masonry,” but we’re not quite sure what. These developments were happening at the same time the Royal Arch was gestating before its birth in 1754. It’s even possible that the Royal Arch and Scottish Masonry came from the same sources. We just don’t know.

What we do know is that the high degrees found fertile ground when they were introduced to French Masonry. In 1745, two years after restricting Scotch Masons, the Grand Lodge of France gave them special privileges, and more privileges and authority followed in 1747 and 1755. In contrast, the Royal Arch appears in lodge minutes in America in 1753 and England in 1758 with little official notice. By 1766 we know that an elaborate sequence of High Degree or “Scottish” Masonry is being worked in France. There’s much activity prior to 1766 that we’ll cov-er later, but we want to take a look now at that sequence of High Degrees.

Emperors and Knights in France

Competition is the force that drives the world’s econo-mies, and it also seems to have driven Scottish Masonry in France, which became part of jockeying for power

within the Grand Lodge of France. The Council of the Knights of the East, Sovereign Prince Masons, was orga-nized in 1756, and included in its government middle-class Masons who had been excluded in previous High Degree ventures. It is not known how many degrees the Knights worked, but they seem to have faded out around 1768–1779.

Coming on the heels of the Knights of the East in 1758 was the Sovereign Council of Emperors of the East and of the West, Sublime Scottish Mother Lodge. The Emperors attracted the upper class and nobility and competed with the knights in the number of degrees they offered. (Just from a marketing point of view the newer group bested the older: “Emperors” are more powerful than “Knights,” and “East and West” is twice an extensive as only “East.”)

The Invention of Stephen Morin

In August 1761 Stephen Morin received a patent from the Grand Lodge of France “authorizing and empowering him to establish perfect and sublime Masonry in all parts of the world, etc., etc.” Morin was a wine merchant from Bordeaux and set up business in Santo Domingo in what is now the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. Morin is little remembered for his wine business, but his Ma-sonic activities have gained him lasting fame.

It took Morin about 15 months to make it from France to Santo Domingo, arriving in January 1763, because his ship was captured by the English and he was taken to England. While we know that he arrived with a patent of authority over the High Degrees, we don’t know how many or which High Degrees he controlled! What we do know is that he met a Dutch merchant, Henry Andrew Francken, and made him a Deputy Inspector General sometime between 1763 and 1767. Francken in turn trav-eled to Albany, New York, and created there a Lodge of Perfection (4°–14°) in 1767.

In addition to creating the Albany Lodge of Perfection, Francken at least four times copied all of his degrees into books: 1771, 1783, and two undated versions. The “Francken Manuscripts” contain the earliest English versions of 21 degrees from 4°, “Secret Master,” to 25°,

Cover- Scottish Rite, Continued


“The Royal Secret or Knights of St. Andrews—the faith-ful guardians of the Sacred Treasure,” a 25-degree system with the first three degrees conferred in Blue Lodges. This should establish conclusively that Morin worked a system of 25 degrees, right? Well, only if the degrees that Morin gave to Francken are the same ones that he received in France!

There is growing evidence that Morin took whatever high degrees he had received in France and refashioned them into the Order of the Royal Secret, creating additional degrees as needed. The governing document, the “Consti-tutions of 1762,” has been discovered by Masonic scholar Alain Bernheim to be a slightly modified version of the constitution of the Grand Lodge of France. Morin appar-ently acted to create a new Masonic body with himself as the only “Grand Inspector.”

The First Supreme Council: Charleston, 1801

However the 25-degree Order of the Royal Secret came into being, it proved popular. These French high degrees, unlike the English York Rite, were spread by traveling Inspectors who conferred them for a fee. It wasn’t neces-sary to wait for enough Masons in a town to receive the high degrees somewhere else and for them to apply for a charter; the itinerant Inspector could take care of every-thing as soon as he arrived. Eight bodies of the Royal Secret were formed in America before 1800, from New Orleans to Albany. The weakness of the Order proved to be the unchecked system of Inspectors General.

Each Inspector General could confer the degrees on Mas-ter Masons, establish local bodies, and create new Inspec-tors—all for an appropriate fee. There were no guidelines on cost, no limitation on numbers, and no restriction on how many more Inspectors an Inspector could create. By 1800 there were over 80 Inspectors General, and the system was moving toward chaos.

Then on May 31, 1801, the first Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, the Mother Council of the World, declared its existence with a motto of “Ordo ab Chao” (Order from Chaos). It announced a new 33-degree sys-tem of high degrees that incorporated all 25 of the Order of the Royal Secret, and added eight more, including that

of 33°, Sovereign Grand Inspector General. This new organization declared control of high-degree Masonry in America.

The new Supreme Council had a written constitution and a plan for organizing and managing the bodies under its control. The problem it faced was how to rein in the roving Inspectors General. The solution was shrewd and depended upon convincing the Inspectors to voluntarily yield allegiance to the Supreme Council. Any Inspector of the 25° would be given authority to confer up to the 32° (the extra seven degrees would make his product more attractive), if he turned in his old patent and agreed to follow the rules of the Supreme Council. This strategy was reasonably successful, and independent Inspectors Gen-eral soon disappeared.

The Second American Supreme Council: New York, 1806

The Charleston Supreme Council had organized itself according to the “Grand Constitution of the Thirty-third Degree,” purportedly written by Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1786. The Constitution provided for one Supreme Council in each country, except that the United States of America could have up to two. (This is an odd provision for a document supposedly originating from Prussia in 1786!) The decision to create a second Ameri-can Supreme Council was unexpectedly thrust upon the Supreme Council in Charleston.

The second Supreme Council in the world was established in Santo Domingo in 1802, a fitting return to Stephen Morin’s home. This Supreme Council died with the slave revolt on the island, but one of its members, Antoine Bideaud, fled to New York. While there he came across five Frenchmen who were interested in the high degrees. For a fee of $46 in 1806 (about $565 in 2000), Bideaud conferred the degrees upon his customers and formed them into a “Consistory” of the 32°—all without the knowledge of the Charleston Supreme Council.

The same year that Bideaud was creating his Consistory, Joseph Cerneau, a French jeweler, moved from Cuba to New York City. He had a patent from an Inspector of the Order of the Royal Secret that gave him limited powers in



Cover- York Rite

Cuba, but that didn’t stop him from setting up his own consistory in New York City. Cerneau operated with-out saying much about whether he had a 25-degree or 32-degree consistory.

Emmanuel de la Motta, the Grand Treasurer from the Charleston Supreme Council, arrived in New York City in 1813, examined the two competing factions, and decided against Cerneau. De la Motta regularized Bideaud’s group and transformed them into the sec-ond Supreme Council for America, now known as the “Northern Masonic Jurisdiction” and consisting of 15 mid-western and northeastern states from Wisconsin and Illinois northeast to Maine. The original Supreme Council or “Southern Jurisdiction” is composed of the other 35 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. All regular Supreme Councils of the world today descend from the Mother Supreme Council of Charleston.

II.History of the Northern Jurisdiction

The following is taken from the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction website: http://supremecouncil.org

1813 On August 5th Daniel D. Tompkins is chosen as the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Tompkins had enjoyed a suc-cessful political career. In 1804 he was simultaneously elected to Congress and appointed to the New York Supreme Court. He chose the latter, serving until his election as Governor in 1807. He was offered the post of Secretary of State in the Madison administration, and was elected U.S. Vice President in 1816, with fellow Mason, James Monroe.

1827 Anti-Masonic movement spreads across the na-tion, and nearly extinguishes the fraternity. John James Joseph Gourgas was elected as Sovereign Grand Com-mander and kept the Rite alive during this dark period. Through his dedication and loyalty he earned the title “Conservator of the Rite.”

1840’s Sovereign Grand Commander Giles F. Yates sets about rebuilding the organization. One of his followers, Killian H. Van Rensselaer, establishes new Valleys in New Haven, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.

1851 Edward A. Raymond is elected as Sovereign Grand Commander.

1860 Raymond’s contentious leadership causes a split in the Supreme Council. He is deposed and replaced by Van Rensselaer. Raymond establishes a rival Supreme Council, which operates for six years.

1867 Following the death of Raymond, the two rival councils unite.

1879 Henry L. Palmer is elected Sovereign Grand Commander, beginning the longest tenure (30 years) in the history of the Rite.

1921 Leon Abbott is elected Sovereign Grand Com-mander and moves the Supreme Council offices from New York to Boston. Upon his death, his will provides for the Abbott Scholarships.

1933 Melvin Maynard Johnson is elected Sovereign Grand Commander and serves as the first full-time Sovereign Grand Commander. Johnson leads the Rite through the Great Depression, World War II, a mem-bership drop to 208,000, and its rebound to 422,000. He establishes a foundation to fund schizophrenia research and writes many papers on early Freemasonry.

1968 SGC George A. Newbury moves the Supreme Council headquarters from Boston to Lexington, MA, just a mile from where the American Revolution began.

1970 The Northern Light begins publishing.

1975 On April 20, the day after the American Revo-lution Bicentennial began on Lexington Green with President Ford presiding, the National Heritage Muse-um opens on the grounds of Supreme Council head-quarters. It is called the gift of the Scottish Rite Masons to the nation.

1995 Sovereign Grand Commander Robert O. Ralston




begins a new charity as the first 32° Masonic Learning Center for Children with Dyslexia opens.

2000 The Supreme Council opens its new headquarters building on the grounds in Lexington, MA.

2003 Walter E. Webber succeeds Robert O. Ralston as Sovereign Grand Commander.

2005 The number of children’s learning centers exceeds 50.

2006 John Wm. McNaughton succeeds Walter E. Web-ber as Sovereign Grand Commander.

III. The Southern Jurisdic-tion

The Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA (commonly known as the Mother Supreme Council of the World) was the first Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. It claims that all other Supreme Councils and Subordinate Bod-ies of the Scottish Rite are derived from it. Its official full name is “The Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commander of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America.” It is also commonly known as The Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction, or by some other varying degree of complete titulage. It remains the main governing body for Scottish Rite Free-masonry in its jurisdiction, and is one of two Supreme Councils in the United States. It oversees the Scottish Rite in 35 states.

In the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 33 members, and is presided over by a Grand Commander. Other members of the Supreme Council are called “Sovereign Grand Inspectors General” (S.G.I.G.), and each is the head of the Rite in his respective Orient (or state). Other heads of the various Orients who are not members of

the Supreme Council are called “Deputies of the Su-preme Council.”

The first philosophical document of the Mother Su-preme Council of the World was “Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry,” written by Confederate General Albert Pike (Sover-eign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite’s Southern Jurisdiction; head of the Mother Supreme Council of the World) in 1872. A copy of Morals & Dogma was given to every new member in the Southern Jurisdiction until 1974, when it was deemed “too advanced to be help-ful to the new Scottish Rite member.” The book given to new initiates then became Clausen’s Commentaries On Morals and Dogma by Henry C. Clausen, then Rex Hutchens’ A Bridge to Light, and in 2006 Scottish Rite Ritual and Monitor by Arturo de Hoyos. (Wikipedia)

IV. The DegreesNorthern4° through 14°: Lodge of Perfection15° and 16°: Council, Princes of Jerusalem17° and 18°: Chapter of Rose Croix19° through 32°: Consistory

Southern4° through 14°: Lodge of Perfection15° through 18°: Chapter of Rose Croix 19° through 30°: Council of Kadosh31° to 32nd and the 33rd degree: Consistory

Lessons of the Scottish Degrees:(from http://www.mastermason.com)

Lodge of Perfection

4th degree Secret Master. The Fourth De-gree emphasizes duty, fidelity, integrity, and



the necessity for secrecy in all confidential relationships.

5th degree Perfect Master. This degree teaches that trustworthiness is more precious than life and is the foundation

of Masonic honor. In addition, we must pay due resect to the memory of a deceased worthy Brother.

6th degree Intimate Secretary. This degree teaches that devotion to ones friends and zealousness in per-forming

ones duties are rewarding virtues.

7th degree Provost and Judge This degree teaches us to judge righteously, without respect to person, and that one law and one custom shall apply to all Let justice be impar-

tial, tempered with deserved mercy.

8th degree Intendant of the Building. This

degree teaches that each new honor is meant to be a step toward perfection in the moral code.

9th degree Master Elect of Nine The lessons taught in this degree are that we should be care-ful not to be too zealous in executing justice, even in a good cause, and that we should avoid injuring or harming any person by hasty or ir-responsible action. 10th degree Master Elect of Fifteen The teach-ings of this degree are that ambition and jealousy

can tempt men to evil deeds, that righteous-ness will eventually triumph over evil, and that evil doers will be punished

1th degree Sublime Master Elected This de-gree dwells on good citizenship. Evil doings should be punished. Honesty and respect for others should be rewarded. Be earnest, honest and sincere.

12th degree Grand Master Architect. This degree teaches that the Mason, as he learns to

use the tools and instruments of his trade and skill, also learns to contemplate the many aspects of life and deal with them as a child of God, steadily advancing to those heights of experience which we call perfection.

13th degree Master of the Ninth Arch This degree teach-es that difficulties and dan-gers, however great, should not deter the true and faith-ful brother from progressing onward to perfection. It teaches the great truth that the finest things in life come only as the result of constant and often painful effort

14th degree Grand Elect Mason In the Scottish Rite, this degree is the summit of Ancient Craft Masonry. As the crowning degree of the Lodge of Perfection, its essence is the holiness of God and reverence for His Holy Name. God will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain. Council of Princes of

Jerusalem



Chapter of Rose Croix

15th degree Knight of the East or Sword This degree teaches the im-portant lessons of loyalty to convic-

tion and devotion to right.

16th degree Prince of Jeru-salem This degree teaches loyalty to truth and fidelity to duty.

17th degree Knight of the East and West The lessons of this degree are that loyalty to God is mans primary allegiance, and the temporal governments not founded upon God and

His righteousness will inevitably fall.

18th degree Knight of the Rose Croix The lessons taught in this degree are that man must have a new Temple in his heart where God is worshipped in spirit and in truth and that he must have a new law of love which all men everywhere may understand and practice. This degree affirms the broad prin-ciples of universality and tolerance.

Council of Kadosh

19th degree Grand Pontiff This degree proclaims the spiritual unity of all who believe in God and cherish the hope of im-mortality, no matter what religious leader they follow or what creed they profess. It is concerned primarily with the perennial conflict between light and darkness, good and evil, God and Satan.

20th degree Master ad Vitam. This degree is a drama of the American spirit confronting the challenge of disloyalty and treason. Masonic principles and leadership are subjected to a crucial test. The degree demonstrates the Masonic condem-nation of all that conspire against the security of the nation and the happi-ness of our people.

21st degree Patriarch Noachite This degree teaches that Free-masonry is not a shield for evil doing and that justice is one of the chief supports of our fraternity.

22nd degree Prince of Libanus. In this degree, the dignity of labor is demon-strated. It is no curse, but a privilege, for man to be allowed to earn his sustenance by work. Idleness, not labor, is disgraceful.



23rd degree Chief of the Tabernacle. This degree teaches that im-pure thought and selfish, unworthy ambitions are corrupting and destruc-tive, and that a man who

forgets his duty to family, country, and God will be morally and spiritually destroyed

24th degree Prince of the Tab-ernacle. This degree teaches that a mutual belief in one true, living God should bind men together in the service of humanity and in a worldwide brotherhood

25th degree Knight of the Brazen Serpent. This degree teaches that there are desert stretches in every individual life in the history of every nation, with a resultant breakdown of discipline and loss of faith. This degree is a clarion call to faith-in ourselves, in each other, and in God.

26th degree Prince of Mercy. This degree teaches the qual-ity of mercy; that it is a spirit of compassion and a tender-ness of heart which dispose us to overlook injuries and to treat an offender better than he deserves.

27th degree Commander of the Temple. This degree

teaches that Scottish Rite Freemasonry believes in the concept of a free church in a free state, each supreme in its own sphere, neither seeking to dominate the other, but cooperating for the common good.

28th degree Knight of the Sun. This degree using the symbolism of the tools and implements of architecture teaches that by building high moral character among its adherents, Freemasonry may advance mans deter-mined quest for the achievement of unity and good will throughout the world

29th degree Knight of ST Andrew. This degree emphasizes the Masonic teach-ings of equality and toleration We are reminded that no one man, no one Church, no one religion, has a monop-oly of truth; that while we must be true and faithful to our own convictions, we must respect the opinions of others.

30th degree Grand Elect Knight Kadosh This degree sets forth the tests and ceremonies that symbol-ize the experiences we must un-dergo in the building of excellence in character.

Consistory

31st degree Grand Inspector In-quisitor Commander. This degree teaches that we should give every man the benefit of innocence and purity of intentions. He who would judge others must first judge him-self.



32nd degree Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. This degree describes the victory of the spiritual over the human in man and the conquest of appetites and passions by moral sense and reason. The exemplar represents every Free-

mason eager to serve humanity but caught between self-interest and the call of duty. Duty often requires sacrifice, sometimes the supreme sacrifice.

This is also the symbol of the 32nd degree Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret and probably the best known. The double-headed eagle was probably first accepted by Masonry, as a symbol, in the year 1758. In that year the body calling itself the Council of Emper-ors of the East and West was established in Paris. The double-headed eagle was in all probability adopted by this Council, which claimed a double jurisdiction; one head inclined to the East to guard any and all who might approach from that direction, the other head guarding the West for a like purpose. The Council adopted a ritual of twenty-five degrees, all of which are now contained in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, to which eight more were added so as to make thirty-three Degrees of which our Rite is now com-posed.

The Eagle, as a symbol, is rooted in antiquity. Accord-ing to Albert G. Mackey the great Masonic encyclope-dist, the bird was sacred to the sun in Egypt, Greece, and Persia. To the pagans it was an emblem of Jupiter, that is, the Greek Zeus, god of moral law and order, protector of suppliants and punisher of guilt. Among the Druids, a religious order of the ancient Celts, it was a symbol of their Supreme Being. Reference is fre-quently made to the eagle in the Scriptures.Among the pagans, the eagle symbolized great strength and endurance as evidenced by its keen sight, aerial prowess and resourcefulness in outwitting its prey,

never wanting for its daily necessities. Cicero, Roman Orator, Statesman and man of letters, in speaking of the myth of Ganymede -- The beautiful shepherd boy who was carried to Olympus by Zeus in the form of an eagle to be the cupbearer of the mythi-cal gods --states that ‘it teaches us that the truly wise, irradiated by the shining light of virtue, become more and more like God, until by wisdom they are borne aloft and soar to Him.”

And so goes the story of the Double Headed Eagle. May its shining light of virtue guide and guard our pathway of life.

Thirty -Third Degree

The 33rd degree is conferred upon those members of the 32 degree who have been outstanding in their contributions to Freemasonry who have shown in their communities the leadership which marks them as men who exemplify in their daily lives the true meaning of the Brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God. It cannot be sought by application, but must be such a man as described above. He must be not less than 33 years of age, and may be elected at an Annual Meeting of the Supreme Council a Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Thirty third and Last Degree. Such elec-tion shall be by unanimous vote of the Active Members present taken by secret ballot The degree is conferred at the Annual Meeting of the Supreme Council succeed-ing the election of a candidate.



V. Caps and their Significance As the White Lambskin is the Badge of a Mason, so is the regulation cap the badge of a Scottish Rite Mason.

A purple cap indicates that the wearer is a 33° Sovereign Grand Inspector General and Ac-tive Member of the Supreme Council.

A white cap indicates a 33° Inspector General Honorary.

A red cap means 32° Knight Commander of the Court of Honour (KCCH).

A light blue cap means that the wearer has been a Scottish Rite Mason for fifty years or more.

A black cap indicates that the wearer has attained the 32°.

The Supreme Council has set forth a rule for the correct wearing of the cap. When wearing a cap it shall be consid-ered to be a part of the apparel of the wearer and shall not be removed. At the presentation of the flag, the cap shall remain in place, and the members shall stand at attention with the right hand over the heart. During prayer, the cap shall remain in place and the hands and arms shall be crossed as in the 18°. The wearing of caps is considered proper at Reunions, Scottish Rite meetings. Maundy Thursday services, etc. It is improper for the cap to be worn in cafes, bus stations, on the street, or in any other public place.



VI. Albert Pike

Born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 29, 1809, Albert Pike is asserted within the Southern Jurisdiction as the man most responsible for the growth and success of the Scottish Rite from an obscure Masonic Rite in the mid-19th century to the inter-national fraternity that it became. Pike received the 4th through the 32nd Degrees in March 1853 from Dr. Albert G. Mackey, in Charleston, S.C., and was appointed Depu-ty Inspector for Arkansas that same year.

At this point, the degrees were in a rudimentary form, and often only included a brief history and legend of each degree as well as other brief details which usually lacked a workable ritual for their con-ferral. In 1855, the Supreme Council appointed a committee to prepare and compile rituals for the 4th through the 32nd Degrees. That committee was composed of Albert G. Mackey, John H. Honour, William S. Rockwell, Claude P. Samory, and Albert Pike. Of these five committee members, Pike did all the work of the committee.

In 1857 Pike completed his first revision of the 4°-32° ritual, and printed 100 copies. This revision, which Mackey dubbed the “Magnum Opus” was never adopted by the Supreme Council. According to Arturo de Hoyos, the Scot-tish Rite’s Grand Historian, the Magnum Opus became the basis for future ritual revisions.

In March 1858, Pike was elected a member of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and in January 1859 he became its Grand Commander. The American Civil War interrupted his work on the Scot-tish Rite rituals. About 1870 he, and the Supreme Council, moved to Washington, DC, and in 1884 his revision of the rituals was complete.

Scottish Rite Grand Archivist and Grand Historian de Hoyos created the following chart of Pike’s ritual revisions:



Biography

Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts, son of Ben and Sarah (Andrews) Pike, and spent his childhood in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. His colonial ancestors included John Pike (1613-1688/1689), the founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey. He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was 15. In August 1825, he passed entrance exams at Harvard University, though when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years which he had successfully challenged by examination, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later becoming a schoolteacher in Gloucester, North Bedford, Fairhaven and Newburyport.

In 1831, Pike left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in St. Louis and later moving on to Independence, Missouri. In Independence, he joined an expedition to Taos, New Mexico, hunting and trading. During the excur-sion his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 miles to Taos. After this he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal and, after traveling about 1300 miles (650 on foot), he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Settling in Arkansas in 1833, he taught school and wrote a series of articles for the Little Rock Arkansas Advocate under the pen name of “Casca.” The articles were popular enough that he was asked to join the staff of the news-paper. Later, after marrying Mary Ann Hamilton, he purchased part of the newspaper with the dowry. By 1835, he was the Advocate’s sole owner.[3] Under Pike’s administration the Advocate promoted the viewpoint of the Whig party in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas.

He then began to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, selling the Advocate the same year. He was the first reporter for the Arkansas supreme court and also wrote a book (published anonymously), titled The Arkansas Form Book, which was a guidebook for lawyers.[citation needed] Additionally, Pike wrote on several legal subjects and continued producing poetry, a hobby he had begun in his youth in Massachusetts. His poems were highly regarded in his day, but are now mostly forgotten. Several volumes of his works were self-published posthumously by his daughter. In 1859, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Harvard.

Pike died in Washington, D.C., aged 81, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery (against his wishes—he had left instructions for his body to be cremated). In 1944, his remains were moved to the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Southern Jurdic-tion of the Scottish Rite.

Morals and Dogma

Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was written by Albert Pike and first published

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in 1872. There have been several subsequent editions. While now out of print, copies are still widely available.

The book is composed of Pike’s ruminations and essays on the Degrees of the Scottish Rite, from the 1st to the 32nd. It is intended as a guidebook for people entering the Scottish Rite, and explains Pike’s understanding of the symbolism and allegory in the degrees he wrote. However, it is a truly imposing tome. There are 861 pages of text and a 218 page index; the book itself is over two inches thick. There are thirty-two chapters, each discussing the philosophical symbolism of a degree of Freemasonry in extensive detail. In the Preface to the 1950 Edition, the edi-tors wrote about Pike thus:

“In preparing this work, the Grand Commander has been about equally Author and Compiler; since he has extract-ed quite half of its contents from the works of the best writers and most philosophic or eloquent thinkers. Perhaps it would have been better and more acceptable if he had extracted more and written less. ”

The preface goes on to say:“Everyone is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound.”

Though it discusses the minutiae of Masonic ritual at length, it is written so as not to reveal the Masonic secrets. Ritual motions and objects are named and elaborated upon, but not described. Even so, in some older editions, the title page of the book declares in large, bold letters: ESOTERIC BOOK, FOR SCOTTISH RITE USE ONLY; TO BE RETURNED UPON WITHDRAWAL OR DEATH OF RECIPIENT.

A copy of Morals and Dogma was given to every new member of the Southern Jurisdiction until 1974, when it was deemed “too advanced to be helpful to the new Scottish Rite member.”[citation needed] It was initially replaced by Clausen’s Commentaries on Morals and Dogma, written by Henry Clausen, 33°, Sovereign Grand Commander, and later by A Bridge To Light, by Rex Hutchens, 33°, GC, which is the book a new initiate into the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction receives today.

Since the Northern Jurisdiction did not adopt Pike’s rituals, they never presented initiates with Morals and Dogma, or any of these subsequent commentaries.


In the United States of America there are two Supreme Councils: one in Washington, D.C. (which controls the Southern Jurisdiction), and one in Lexington, Massachusetts (which controls the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction)

VII. State breakdown between the North and South



Northern Masonic JurisdictionThe Lexington, Massachusetts-based Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, formed in 1813, oversees the bodies in fifteen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont. It uses only the term Val-ley. Each Valley has up to four Scottish Rite bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees.

In the Northern Jurisdiction, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 66 members. All members of the Supreme Council are designated Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, but the head of the Rite in each Valley of the Northern Jurisdiction is called a "Deputy of the Supreme Council."

Southern Masonic JurisdictionBased in Washington, D.C., the Southern Jurisdiction (often referred to as the "Mother Supreme Council of the World") was founded in Charleston, South Carolina in 1801. It oversees the Scottish Rite in 35 states, which are referred to as Orients, and local bodies, which are called Valleys.

In the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 33 members, and is presided over by a Grand Commander. Other members of the Supreme Council are called "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General" (S.G.I.G.), and each is the head of the Rite in his respective Orient (or state). Other heads of the various Orients who are not members of the Supreme Council are called "Deputies of the Supreme Council."

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VIII. S.R. Suggested Reading

(Southern Jursidiction http://scottishrite.org/about/masonic-education/suggested-reading/)

Samuel Harrison Baynard, Jr., History of the Su-preme Council, 33°, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America and its Antecedents, 2 vols. (Williamsport, Pa.: Grip Publishing Co., 1938)

James D. Carter, ed., R. Baker Harris, History of the Supreme Council, 33° (Mother Council of the World) Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free-masonry Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. 1801–1861 (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1964) James D. Carter, History of the Supreme Council, 33° (Mother Council of the World) Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. 1861–1891 (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1967) James D. Carter, History of the Supreme Council, 33° (Mother Council of the World) Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. 1891–1921 (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1971)

Arturo de Hoyos, Light on Masonry. The History and Rituals of America’s Most Important Masonic Exposé (Washington, D.C.: Scottish Rite Research Society, 2008)

William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America’s Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, 1997)

William L. Fox, ed., Valley of the Craftsmen. A Pic-torial History. Scottish Rite Freemasonry in Ameri-ca’s Southern Jurisdiction 1801–2001 (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 2001)

Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1988)

Rex R. Hutchens, A Glossary to Morals and Dogma (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1993)

Rex R. Hutchens, Pillars of Wisdom. The Writings of Albert Pike (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1995)

Rex R. Hutchens and Donald W. Monson, The Bible in Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, 1992)

Charles S. Lobingier, The Supreme Council, 33° Mother Council of the World Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. (Louisville, Ky.: The Standard Printing Co., 1931)

Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (Charleston, A∴M∴ 5632 [1871]; new and revised ed.: Richmond, Va.: L.H. Jenkins, 1950)

Albert Pike, Sephir H’Debarim. The Book of the Words. A facsimile of the 1879 second edition. With an Introduction by Art de Hoyos (Washington, D.C.: Scottish Rite Research Society, 1999)

Jim Tresner, Vested in Glory. The Aprons, Cordons, Collars, Caps, and Jewels of the Degrees of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (Washington, D.C.: Published for the Scottish Rite Research Society by The Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., USA, 2000)


Phoenixmasonry.org Online Museum

Scottish RiteMemorabilia

This bronze piece is unusual. It still has what looks like a ribbon hanger still attached, so it could have been a part of a jewel at one time. Whatever it is, it is a wonderful picture of Pike in high relief. On the front side it reads: Albert Pike 33 Degree 1809 - 1891 (the dates of his birth and death). Engraved on the side of the piece it reads: Presented By Frederick Webber 33 Degree 1899. On the reverse it shows a double headed eagle surrounded by the words; Gr. Comdr. Ad Vitam. S. C. (Sovereign Commander) 33 Degree So. Mas. Juris. U.S.A. 1857. The piece is very heavy and measures 1 3/4 inches in diameter.

Pictured above is an 1884 Morgan Silver Dollar. The obverse is lustrous silver. On the reverse has been engraved a portrait of virtually photographic quality, as well as Masonic symbols of the owners titles and degrees, i.e. Past Master, Scottish Rite Mason and York Rite Mason. This side of the token is also dated 1885. The distinguished looking gentleman was the Grand Master of New York in 1885, J. Edward Simmons (GM 1883-1885). This coin was commissioned by him and the Grand Lodge of New York to honor his work in Freemasonry as Grand Master during a particularly fragile time in our fraternity.

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This beautiful four-color Scottish Rite plate depicts the 32nd Degree double headed eagle emblem with its triangle breastplate, crossed swords and the Latin motto of the 32nd Degree, Spes Mea In Deo Est, which means My hope is in God. It comes from the Chicago Masonic Temple which dates it to the early 1900's.

Here is a rare piece of Sheet Music showing Illustrious Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction as the Composer of the great Civil War song "Dixie". It is dated 1899. It is very surprising to see a picture of him dressed in his Scottish Rite regalia in connection with this piece of sheet music. Pike was a loyal supporter of the Confederacy and this song became a battle hymn for the southern cause.

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This silver and goldwashed Scottish Rite Reunion spoon is marked “Sterling”, made by Wheatley, and dated 1920. The spoon is 5 13/16 inches long, in fine condition, with slight wear. The bowl of the spoon has “Souvenir of Scottish Rite Reunion, Regina, 1920“ in high relief. The front of the handle of the spoon has the Masonic compass in relief. This early bronze door hardware was taken out of

an old Scottish Rite build-ing before being demol-ished. The doorplate is covered in heavy varnish from many years of main-tenance. The bronze door knob is gilded in heavy gold plate and shows little sign of wear. The door plate measures 13 inches tall and is approximately 3 inches wide.

This beautifully etched glass according to the "His-tory of the Supreme Coun-cil, 33rd A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction, USA 1891-1921" by Dr. James D. Carter, 33, G.C. on page 119, "Webber also an-nounced that the souvenir of the Session would be an engraved wine glass." The 1st line reads: "Supreme Council 33 A.A.S.R."; the 2nd line reads: S.J.U.S.A.; The emblem: Double Headed Eagle, Crown and Cross, 33 in tri-angle in the middle the motto "DUES MEUMQUE JUS"; the 4th line: Washington, D.C.; the 5th line: October 16th, 1899. This glass is 3 3/8 inches tall, 1 1/4 inches in diameter at the bottom and 2 inches at the top, very thin glass and etched on one side only.

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Lodge Education


Short Talk Bulletin - January 1972

The search for more and more light goes on day after day. The cost runs into billions of dollars year after year. Even in industry, which might be termed a post-educational institution, the quest for knowledge is encouraged and supported by tremendous sums of money.

In industry and non-profit organizations the search has differing terms. Two of the most popular are "research and development" and "training programs". As the term "training programs" most closely fits Freemasonry's search for more light, we'll use it here.

De we really need training programs in Masonry? Do. we really need to seek and spread more light? The answer may be "no", but if any of the following are present, the answer must be "yes"

-Attendance at meetings is poor -Loss of membership is experienced- Requests for demits are numerous- Suspensions for any reason are high- The degree work is poor- Candidates don't return for the FC and MM Degree- Programs are poor or non-existent- The Lodge is not a vital part of the community- The Lodge ignores requests or orders from the Grand Lodge or Grand Master- Reports to the Grand Lodge are not made promptly- Errors in reports are numerous - District or area Conferences are sparsely attended- The Lodge is making members instead of Master Ma-sons

Other items can be added to the list. Each Lodge should determine where its own weaknesses are. If it is then determined that a search for more light is needed, some kind of training program will be required.

It must be emphasized that no training program can be successful unless the "top" is fully "sold" on the need.

Unless the Worshipful Master and his officers are agreed that more knowledge about Freemasonry is essential, any program is doomed to failure.

This does not necessarily mean that the Master, or even one of his officers, be the leader of the program. The wise Master realizes that all men have their limitations.

He also realizes that all men are proficient in some area. So he seeks out the most knowledgeable Masons he can find for the particular job that must be done. He remem-bers that he acknowledged when he was installed Wor-shipful Master:

The honor, reputation, and usefulness of your lodge will materially depend on the skill and assiduity with which youmanage its concerns, while the happiness of its members will be materially promoted in proportion to the zealand ability wish which you propagate the genuine prin-ciples of our Institution.

For a pattern of imitation, consider the Great Luminary of Nature, which, rising in the East, regularly diffuses light and luster to all within its circle. In like manner, it is your province to spread and communicate light and instruction to the brethren of your lodge.

The Worshipful Master is charged to manage his Lodge, i.e., to set goals, to lay out plans, to reach them, to set the Craft to work and to superintend them in their labors, which means he will use the talents of his members for the benefit of Freemasonry. He will assign the tasks that must be done to the best men available. By doing so, with"skill and assiduity", he will "propagate the genuine principles of our Institution". Above all, he will then be fulfilling his most important duty - "to spread and com-municate light and instruction to the brethren" of hisLodge.

Who does need this Masonic Light that the Master is charged to spread and communicate?

“MORE LIGHT in MASONRY:WHO NEEDS IT?”by Allen E. Roberts


- The new members- All the officers of the Lodge- The "old timers"- Sojourning Masons, members of other Jurisdictions residing near the Lodge

To reach these men, and to cover all the areas that need Masonic enlightenment, many types of training activi-ties will be required. It is impossible for one person to list all the situations peculiar to the 16,000 Lodges throughout the United States. Not even Freemasonry's legendary first Grand Master, with all of his wisdom, could findall of the answers. Every person is different; every Jurisdiction has its own peculiarities; every Lodge has a differing number of members and location; so every Lodge must determine its own needs.

These needs, and the kinds of training activities required to meet them, can be determined in part through

- Seeking the advice and assistance of the Committee on Education and other Grand Lodge officers- Interviews with members who have left the Lodge- Analyzing the programs used by other Lodges in and out of the Jurisdiction- Obtaining information from publishers of Masonic books for training programs and other books available- Conferring with other organizations, such as manage-ment centers of local universities, about training pro-grams and the results theyachieve- Seeking assistance from outside consultants, such as management training specialists in banks and industrialcorporations- Getting advice from current authors of books and ar-ticles on management and training programs- Talking with teachers in schools and universities in the area

Actually, the sources for assistance from non-Masons and Masons are plentiful. The leadership of every Lodge can find the help required to set up any program de-sired.

Every Lodge has members who will be willing to take the time necessary to learn how to be a Masonic teacher. The ritualistic instructors have proven this. In those few

lodges where Masonic education has been put to work, other instructors have been available. All it really takes is a Worshipful Master eager, anxious, and willing to spread the Light of Freemasonry to his members.

It would be impossible to hire on the open market the type of talent needed to carry out the required training activities. There isn't enough money in the treasury of any Lodge for that. But Freemasonry is fortunate. It has all the talent it needs among its members. It just isn't be-ing used as it should be. It hasn't been put to work!

The answers received to our question, "Do we really need to seek and spread more light?" will determine where the problems are. When we find them, the next step is to do something about them. So, let's define a problem and analyze it in some detail.

The attendance has been poor for several years. Seldom do over 15% of the resident members of the Lodge at-tend. We must determine why; so you, the Worshipful Master, call a meeting of your officers. You don't stop there, however. You want the best information you can get, so you also call in the Past Masters and as many members as you can roundup. You don't ask just the faithful members to meet with you. You bring in as many of those who have lost interest in the Lodge as you can find. These are the men who will "let their hair down" and tell you what is really wrong.

What you will learn will probably shock you, especially if there has been frank and open participation. But you don't stop with this meeting. You ask these men to go out and contact all the members of the Lodge. You are particularly interested in the views and comments of those who are not active. And you want as much infor-mation from those who have left the Lodge as possible. A time limit of one month is set by the group.

A month later you find that what shocked you earlier is even more shocking. You have learned that attendance is poor because there have been no Masonic programs. The Lodge has been opened, the minutes read, the billspaid, and if there was no candidate, the Lodge closed. Hardly worth leaving the reclining chair and TV for.

The consensus also indicated that the degree work

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needed much improvement. That's the reason three candidates didn't return to receive the Second or Third Degree. And that's the reason many who did go on to become members don't bother to attend the meetings now.

Many of those who don't still want to know what is going on in the Lodge. They are unhappy because they only receive an occasional post card. That tells them nothing. They want better communication than that from the Lodge.

A few wanted to know more about Freemasonry. They could find no one to tell them anything about the Order beyond the lectures (catechisms) that they had learned. They couldn't even find out where to obtain Masonic books, and the Lodge had none. This was one reason that several let themselves be suspended for non-pay-ment of dues.

It was learned that the community knew little or noth-ing about the Lodge. That was the main reason the good men of the community were not petitioning the Lodge. No one is interested in becoming a part of an inactive organization. There were civic clubs available that were doing something.

The Master learned that in trying to define one problem - lack of attendance - he had found several areas that needed improving. He enumerated them as 1. A lack of Masonic programs at the stated meetings2. Poor degree work3. No Lodge library4. A lack of communication with the members. 5. No Masonic education program6. The Lodge is not a vital part of the community

There was no question about it. If the Brethren were to receive More Light in Masonry, there was a lot of hard work ahead.

The problems couldn't be solved overnight - not even in a year. To do the job that ought to be done, all the offi-cers would have to be committed to work with an overall educational program for several years. Fortunately, your officers agreed to seek and spread Masonic Light throughout their Lodge.

More Light in Masonry? Who needs it?

-Those of us who aren't proud to be called a Master Mason.-Those of us who don't feel that "we" can identify with Freemasonry. -Those of us who can't talk about the Order, not even to our families, because we don't know what to say.-Those of us who asked questions about the Fraternity but never received meaningful answers.

If the goal of making every member a Master Mason hasn't been set and reached, there is a need to seek and spread More Light in Masonry. If the members and offi-cers aren't enthused about being Freemasons, knowledgeabout the Craft is lacking. If every Master Mason isn't a worker in the quarries of Freemasonry, there is a need for more and more Light.

The Worshipful Master in our "problem" discovered the need to spread Masonic Light in many areas of his Lodge. By studying the problem of attendance, the of-ficers were in a position to answer the question which forms the title and subtitle of this essay:

MORE LIGHT in MASONRY: WHO NEEDS IT? - All of us!

POTS

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