Social Media Code of Conduct for Massachusetts Freemasons

• A Mason should conduct his Social Media activities in a way that reflects his membership in the Craft.
  He should act in a way that presents a positive image of his membership in Freemasonry to the world.
• As a Mason, he must be aware that his postings are a permanent record; therefore, his conduct may
  influence the world with a positive or a negative opinion about him personally and also about any organizations to which he belongs.
• His actions on the various Social Media outlets should reflect the highest standards of morality and integrity he would practice within the Lodge.
• To ensure our fraternity represents itself to the high standards we believe in, we must regulate our actions through Brother-to-Brother intervention. As a Mason, you should advise a Brother if you feel that what he has posted is improper within the framework of our Grand Constitutions, rules, regulations, and edicts.
• Do not identify any Freemason as a member of the Craft unless he has provided his consent, or has already identified himself as such.
• Lodge notices, and information contained within Lodge notices beyond the time and place of meeting, should not be discussed.
• There should never be discussion related to the application, background or investigation of an applicant.
• There should never be discussion regarding the ballot of an applicant.
• There should never be discussion related to the business of a Lodge and what is discussed within our tyled doors.
• The posting of pictures or videos of Lodge events must comply with the Grand Constitutions, rules, regulations, and edicts.
• Information about Lodge or District social activities must comply with the regulations already in place for Lodge Notices (for example, no reference to alcohol or games of chance).
• The posting of social activities of a Lodge or District should comply with the regulation standards already in place for the distribution of Lodge Notices and inserts.
• No official communication with other Grand Lodges or their subordinate Lodges may take place online. Contact must be conducted through the Office of the Grand Secretary.

May 1, 2012

Social Media Committee

You can read the original Massachusetts Freemasons Social Media Code of Conduct PDF document here.

While most of these regulations are common sense rules promulgating proper protocol and etiquette, still there seems to be the continued penchant for Grand Lodges to feel that they have to control the behavior of their members. It was not so long ago that some Grand Lodges forbade its members to operate their own Masonic websites.

The regulations on videos, references to alcohol and games of chance, and the prohibition of communication with other Lodges and Grand Lodges using social media seems to be a bit draconian and to harken back to an era of stricter public moral regulation.

Freemasons are free thinkers and free – free from the restraints of conservative sectarian religious dogma. The attempt to CONTROL the daily lives of Freemasons rather than merely offering a pathway to enlightenment is a disturbing use of Grand Lodge power, especially in the 21^st Century.

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The Salon is an off topic collection of conversation starters to be taken with a snifter of brandy, a fine cigar, and a grain of salt.

Found this snippet on the blog Brain Pickings and immediately it capture my attention.

It would seem the monks who saved Christendom by their meticulous hand copying of the Gospels were also human and had their own complaints which they doodled into the margins of the texts they copied.  Not surprising, the things they wrote weren’t so different than the ones you and I might post today on social media.

A few of my Marginalia favorites from Brain Pickings:

I’m very cold.

New parchment, bad ink; I say nothing more.

The parchment is hairy.

Now I’ve written the whole thing: for Christ’s sake give me a drink.

Of course, most marginalia are notes on the text, but who hasn’t scribbled a complaint or doodled a bit in the margin.  Sometimes it was intentional and meant to inspire, or maybe just titillate while in study as with the Rothschild Canticles, produced for a nun at the turn of the fourteenth century that the blog Got Medieval showed us.

Image from Got Medieval

Got Medieval cites one scholar on the marginals as saying of them that they bring a “powerful counterpart to the framed images” while failing to explain why they were included.

Below are a few examples of marginals from monks of the period, some simple sketches, some elaborately executed.

The notations got me thinking about other margin drawings, and quick Google search and who knew that there was a whole philosophy of understanding to their meaning complete with Philosophical ideas about them.  Doodles like this, it seems, have links to Freudian psychology characterizing it, in part as paralleled with syncope and intimate revolt.

Looking back at some of my lesser doodles during school, I think I could be persuaded to probably agree.

My favorite modern day marginalia (now called marginals) comes in the form of the tiny illustrations of Sergio Aragonés in MAD Magazine.

Looking at a few of them makes me think of the monks scribble of lament “That’s a hard page and a weary work to read” the relief from which I always found when reading MAD by looking at Aragonés scribbles in the corners.

Looking at them again make me think of the monks lament on how much easier they make looking at the page.

What do you scribble as your marginals?  Are you a doodler or a scribbler in the margins?

All the Masters gave him the keys to the Lodge. They welcomed someone dependable who could open everything up in case they were running late. This evening Master Reynolds was early coming in right on the heels of the Old Past Master. Worshipful went right to the office and plumped down in the chair at his desk. The look on his face could have frightened a scarecrow.

“What’s troubling you, Worshipful,” the Old Past Master softly ventured.

“It’s this darn letter from the Grand Lodge. They are instituting new financial reporting rules. Seems like every year that goes by Grand Lodge has more rules and regulations to impose on us,” replied Worshipful Reynolds.

“What are they looking for,” queried the Old Past Master.

“They want a complete evaluation of our property, the building and everything that’s in it, certified by a reputable estimator. Furthermore, and this is the real kicker, they want statements from our banks and brokerage houses as to exactly how much money we have, after which they want a complete written rundown on how we have spent every penny.”

“Do they explain why they feel that they need to have this information?”

“Grand Lodge says that if one of its constituent Lodges is sued that the litigators will always include Grand Lodge in the suit. Some of these suits are for embezzlement or suits when the Lodge gets in financial difficulties. The Grand Lodge feels that it needs to know our financial standing and that we are following acceptable accounting practices.”

“And what do you intend to do? It feels as if you are wrestling with a tough decision.”

“I intend to tell them to go fly a kite but I’m a little nervous about doing that”

“Who are you going to tell to go fly a kite,” asked Secretary Levin as he stepped into the office.

“Oh, nobody special,” piped up the Old Past Master, “Just Grand Lodge.”

After the two filled him in, he retorted, “I’m not surprised. Last year Grand Lodge issued rules on exactly how candidate instruction was going to be performed and what material was to be covered. The year before they required all Lodges to have both property and liability insurance and that it be purchased by the Grand Lodge provider.”

“Well it’s time to open Lodge,” Master Reynolds declared, “I think this issue should go before the entire Lodge. We will discuss it tonight and I would appreciate support and help from both of you. Oh, and Secretary Levin please post this issue in the next summons.”

“Right,” replied Secretary Levin.

“We have your back,” added the Old Past Master.

After opening the Lodge, Worshipful Reynolds dispensed quickly with the minutes, sick brethren concerns, charitable events, and other petty business. He then read the letter from Grand Lodge, explained his reluctance to comply and opened up the floor for discussion.

“The Chair recognizes Secretary Levin”

“Last year Grand Lodge issued rules on exactly how candidate instruction was going to be performed and what material was to be covered. The year before they required all Lodges to have both property and liability insurance and that it be purchased by the Grand Lodge provider,” exclaimed Levin. I say it is time for us to put our foot down and call their bluff.”

“Let’s not forget what has been going on in other jurisdictions,” added Brother Garcia as he rose and was recognized by a nod from the Master. We have the racial mess at Gate City Lodge #2 in Georgia where they sought to expel the Master, the expulsion of Past Grand Master Frank Haas in West Virginia, the almost expulsion of Derek Gordon in Arkansas, the expulsion of Mike McCabe in New Jersey, the recent expulsion of Past Grand Master Neal Bidnick of New York and the expulsion of the Deputy Grand Master of Arizona to name just a few. Could you be headed for expulsion, Worshipful, if you refuse to go along with Grand Lodge?”

“I can’t rule out the possibility,” replied Master Reynolds. “And if I choose that route I don’t want to bring any of you others with me.”

“Oh, I will gladly go down with you and the ship,” the Old Past Master replied.

“Here, here,” rang up a chorus from the Lodge room.

Rising the Senior Deacon, Brother Jackson pointed out, “What is really so very wrong and un-Masonic about many of these prominent Masonic expulsions is that they are done without a Masonic Trial, probably because there was no due cause for them in the first place. In the case of PGM Haas the Grand Master lured him into his Lodge on false pretenses and then before his Father expelled him without due recourse.”

Rising and being recognized Brother Brown chips in, “Are we going to all make a decision and all go along with that decision or are we going to let the Master, alone take the fall if we choose to fight Grand Lodge on this issue.”

“The chair recognizes Past Master Hathaway.”

“As you all know I just received my 50 year pin so I have been around awhile, explained Hathaway. It didn’t used to be this way. Grand Lodge was our ceremonial head much like the Queen of England is to the government of Great Britain. It required a uniformity of ritual and sent out District Deputies to insure compliance. We were all inspected but in the vast majority of cases if we were abiding by the Landmarks it was routine. We had our reports to file, but it wasn’t information that Grand Lodge used against us. Grand Lodge’s job was to represent us across the nation and worldwide, to charter new Lodges and approve of mergers and to offer instruction and help. It was not to micro manage the daily affairs of every constituent Lodge. Today Grand Lodge has become a control freak.”

“And it has to stop here and now,” yelled Brother Renault without being recognized.

The Master frowned at such an outburst but then looked over at the Old Past Master inviting him with his body language to take the floor and provide some leadership.

“Well before we go off half cocked,” said the Old Past Master as he rose with a nod from the Master, let’s pursue avenues of accommodation. Let’s discover how pliable Grand Lodge will be. Perhaps we can meet Grand Lodge halfway, they give a little and we give a little. I think that we should try to settle this amicably with a meeting of the minds.”

“So be it,” declared Worshipful Reynolds. I will schedule a meeting with the Grand Master if he is willing and try to work out some sort of middle ground solution. In the meantime I would like a committee to explore other possibilities should the ax fall and come up with an escape route. Old Past Master would you chair such a committee?”

“Aye, Worshipful, I will do just that,” answered the Old Past Master.

“I will appoint Secretary Levin and Past Master Hathaway to that committee. Old Past Master please enlist up to two more Brothers of your own choosing,” said Worshipful Reynolds. The measure is tabled until our next Communication which will be a Special to be convened two weeks from today. Now let us adjourn.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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Want to be a member? Want to be a member?  Want to be a member of the Order of the Ohhhm-Bo-bahcha-cha- Ohhhm-Bo-bahcha-cha?

If all initiations ended like this one, I bet most fraternities would be teeming with members.

It reminds me of the pranks in the Demoulin catalog of Fraternal Supplies from the 30′s.  I wonder if it was the inspiration for the short film.

I’m not entirely clear why some would think this short was to indoctrinate children into secret societies, but, I suppose you can make what ever connections to you want from it.

Want to be a member?  Want to be a member?  The tune will stick with you for the rest of the day.

Look for the quick glimpse of Mickey near the beginning as a little Easter egg.

VC says that the video is so full of symbolism that ” we realize that those who produced it were obviously ‘in the know’. The cartoon is therefore yet another example of occult symbolism that can be seen by all, but meant to be fully understood by few.

Maybe so.

I’ll leave it to you to decide.

The first came in an email which, the sender says, was sent to “practically every member listed in the Grand Lodge [of New York in the New York State] Directory.”  To how many this was sent out  was not said, but the note to me says it was sent to “voting members or delegates eligible to vote.”

The letter, reproduced in its entirety as I received it, was prefaced with an observation which reads…

Much like Arizona, Georgia, Arkansas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Freemasonry under the Grand Lodge of New York is imploding. Trial after trial of hand-selected Commissioners, egged on by an unscrupulous Proctor, approved by the Most Worshipful Grand Master at the behest of the Grand Secretary with only days remaining in their terms, exacting vengeance using the system of Masonic Jurisprudence designed to protect the Craft instead to settle scores and personal prejudices.

Will the Masonic news community assist or will we soon be left to the same fate as the GLNF???

The following letter is being distributed within New York State.

********

It’s almost Installation time. In my years in our Craft, I have attended many Installation ceremonies and every year we hear the same reminders to work in harmony and let nothing disturb the peace and good fellowship of our order. Every time we ballot, we are reminded not to let private piques and quarrels interfere with doing what is right. I wish this applied to Grand Lodge too but these ideas, and even our Constitutions, don’t always seem to apply to officers above a certain rank. I thought we were all supposed to play nice, especially those we look to as examples of our Craft.

As the entire world has now been notified by order of our current Grand Master, MW Vincent Libone, Past Grand Master Neal Bidnick was recently expelled from Freemasonry on allegations of a misappropriation of funds that occurred during his term as Grand Master from 2006-2008.  To be honest, this really irked me. Every time I turn around, Grand Lodge is asking me for money and we already see too many abuses and indulgences with our funds. Since no legal charges were actually brought or arrests made, however, I was forced to question the voracity of the claims.

I am writing in the hope that you or your Brothers may be able to help me find some answers or logic regarding the circumstances of what appears then to be nothing more than the execution of a personal vendetta against Mr. Bidnick. I have been doing research on my own by speaking with participants and some people close to the situation and what I have found disgusts me. It is difficult, however, to obtain a complete picture without being able to speak with Mr. Bidnick or GM Libone themselves. Perhaps, after reviewing the information that I do have, you or someone closer to our Grand Master may choose to ask him yourselves.

Like a lot of Brothers I have spoken with, I don’t understand why these allegations are coming to light now after no less than four audits of the accounts from Mr. Bidnick’s term were conducted. His predecessors were not audited, nor were his successors, only him by order of Grand Master Libone and the Grand Secretary, Gilbert Savitzky. None of those audits, including one conducted by retired trained SEC auditors at the behest of RW Bill Thomas, found any problems. Luckily for us, five Past Grand Treasurers (an auto mechanic, retired pharmacist, a Stella D’oro delivery driver, a retired marine and a retired DEA agent) appointed by Grand Master Libone were able to determine that misconduct occurred when experienced CPAs and forensic accountants could not.

It’s also public knowledge, also sent out to the world by order of Grand Master Libone, that Mr. Bidnick was suspended earlier this year for marching in a parade. That notice went everywhere but it has not been the practice of our Grand Lodge to send notices of expulsions to every Grand Lodge that we are in communication with. There is a tragic irony that the proclamation of Mr. Bidnick’s suspension for marching in a parade was broadcast around the world even as PGM Gilbert’s son, our junior Past Grand Tiler, sat in a Buffalo jail on four counts of second-degree criminal sexual acts with a 14 year old girl. It leads one to question priorities.

This first suspension was for defiance of an order issued by MW Libone that Mr. Bidnick not appear in public in his capacity as a Past Grand Master anywhere that was on the Grand Lodge calendar; a calendar that is not distributed to anyone outside the Grand Line including Mr. Bidnick. The letter was drawn up in consultation and approval with six Past Grand Masters who saw fit to restrict Mr. Bidnick’s activities because of allegations involving not him but his wife. Not only did MW Gilbert not receive any such restrictions for the actions of his son, he participated in the drafting of the unconstitutional order against Mr. Bidnick. Mr. Bidnick marched in a parade that was not on the Grand Lodge calendar, with Brothers of his Lodge and District in a plain white apron while the top two elected Grand Line officers were on the other side of the state. As a result, he was suspended by a trial commission composed of the same Past Grand Masters who sought to penalize him for the actions of another person.

I looked through our Constitutions since the Notice of Decision on the first trial was distributed and found that it specifically prohibits even the Grand Master from suspending any Brother from the rights and privileges of Freemasonry without a hearing. Not only did these Most Worshipful Brothers violate the Constitutions by participating in the approving of the order, they then disregarded them further by sitting in judgment of the charged violation of their own illegal action, breaking perhaps half a dozen other rules of procedure and laws in the process. They can hardly be considered unbiased commissioners as our Code of Procedure and Constitutions require.

Word of this immoral and improper suspension started to get around and a huge majority of people I spoke with hope that it is the opinion of the Commissioners of Appeals that it should be overturned; the same way it has become apparent to anyone who has read our Constitutions that it should be.

I’ve also heard that Mr. Bidnick’s appeal was sent to Grand Lodge in December.  Why has it taken so long for the Commissioners of Appeals to render a decision?  Could it be that the office of Grand Secretary has delayed and stonewalled requests for evidence and transcripts when it became obvious that the Suspension would be overturned in time for Mr. Bidnick to run supposedly against MW Libone for the office of Grand Secretary? This was when MW Libone apparently ordered that something else be found to hang Mr. Bidnick on.

The notice distributed by Grand Lodge states that the complaint this time was brought by Mr. Bidnick’s Grand Marshal, RW Kurt Ott. He’s even told people that he was “only following orders” to do so. The charge that was issued questions the travel expenses of a trip that Mr. Bidnick and others took to Italy almost five years ago. I have learned that the Grand Lodge Director of Finance was called to be a witness for the accuser in this case. If there were any problems with the transactions now being questioned, why didn’t she bring them up at the time, or to the auditors who have reviewed the accounts several times prior to the charge being issued against Mr. Bidnick. Despite actuarial, forensic and other evidence presented by Mr. Bidnick’s attorney, I have learned that he was expelled by a trial commission composed of:

• RW Lou Juers, who was defeated by Mr. Bidnick in elections for both Deputy Grand Master and Grand Master, the latter election of which he never conceded and made a less than dignified speech at.
• RW Robert Stack, who was defeated in the election for Deputy Grand Master by Mr. Bidnick.
• RW Werner Kniesel, who was not re-nominated as a Trustee of the Masonic Hall and Home, after his term had expired, by Mr. Bidnick but had been appointed by MW Libone back onto the Board of Trustees and now has nominated him for a full term at this Grand Lodge session.
• RW Marino Cesarini, who MW Libone is quite publicly endorsing for Deputy Grand Master in spite of a hundred years of Grand Lodge tradition and precedent not to do so.
• RW Joseph Quarequio, who was Grand Treasurer under Mr. Bidnick and signed off on all of the finances of his term now being questioned. I am sure that he was asked to recues himself from the Commission because of this conflict but appears he did not. Maybe someone wanted him to be ineligible to be called as a witness by being named as a trial commissioner. Pretty slick.

This commission certainly had an axe or four to grind with Mr. Bidnick and was handpicked by MW Libone to sit in judgment of his supposed opponent for the Grand Secretary’s seat. As icing on this cake of manure and malevolence, rumor has it that Mr. Juers, the Commission Chairman, allegedly stated prior to the trial that he intended to find Mr. Bidnick guilty. Regardless, Mr. Juer’s past and present role in the Jesters (look on the Net and make your own judgment about this group) and his many anti-Semitic public statements are more than enough for me to personally question his integrity and suitability to sit in judgment of anyone.

My Brothers, this isn’t Freemasonry, this was a hit. Regardless of any facts positive or negative, in Mr. Bidnick’s case, it was decided before it began. It is my hope and prayers that it too will be overturned on appeal by anyone who can understand basic accounting principles, but the damage will be done. MW Libone has set himself up to run unopposed and assumes the role of Chief Operational Officer of our Grand Lodge.

I am wondering if the Jurisprudence Committee, comprised of the same Past Grand Masters who facilitated his violations of our Constitutions, will sign off on his actions with a blanket approval and at that point there may be nothing that can be done to revisit this travesty.

You can do something about this. It’s your Grand Lodge and your votes count. Make your delegates familiar with these actions and have them ask questions. Seek out Mr. Bidnick’s attorney. At the very least, until important questions can be asked and answered, I implore you to vote down (or at least table) the Jurisprudence Committee’s report. If you feel the actions outlined here are an acceptable display of Freemasonry, then join the cabal and vote to approve the actions of a man who preaches Faith, Integrity and Trust while scoffing our laws and defecating on our Constitutions in order to tear out the throat of a rival for office.  For my own part, I’d like to know what really happened to the man who taught us…

“Because I am a Freemason, I know that the last great lesson of Freemasonry — the value of personal integrity and the sanctity of one’s word — is a lesson for all people in all times; I therefore vow to be a man of my word.”

********

Without reading into the content, the context has a distinct air of frustration over things outside of our (collective) control.  You could say this is the type of thing that provoked Martin Luther to nail his 95 thesis on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the Castle Church of Wittenberg.  And, this same sentiment is coming from the west echoed in a situation arising out of the Grand Lodge of Arizona, the words coming from a post in an on-line forum posted May 1st, 2012, which reads…

…our Grand Master has once again demonstrated he is above the Arizona Masonic Code. Here is the play by play of the events taken by him in the past 15 hours

Yesterday afternoon the Grand Master summoned the elected Deputy Grand Master into his office and in the presence of R:. W:. Junior Grand Warden William A. Garrard Jr, and Senior Grand Deacon Mike Manning, informed the Deputy Grand Master he was suspended from Masonry.

The reason the Grand Master gave for this action, which, in my reading of the AMC, is in conflict with the powers given to him by the Arizona Grand Lodge, was that the Deputy Grand Master did not promptly return his apron and jewel of his office, when he relieved the Deputy Grand Master of his Grand Lodge duties, while he still served as the elected Deputy Grand Master. The meeting was brief but it was recorded to avoid any misunderstanding.

The new Official Grand Lodge Officer line-up as installed by PGM Rowen last evening is as follows:

• Deputy Grand Master Jeff Carlton,
• SGW William Garrard Jr.
• JGW Mike Manning.

These are the new faces of Arizona Masonry. I regret that I cannot support any of them nor can I support anyone who will be appointed to the line by them.

Therefore, I am seriously looking for a new Masonic Home. Anyone who has a suggestion can contact me directly.

********

While much shorter, the same sentiment as the New York email is at play in this on-line forum posting.

The last thought on this comes from something sent to me recently through Facebook within which a brother delicately spelled out his reasons for no longer wanting to be a part of the fraternity.  In his note, he mentions life changes, health, family, and employment status as aspects of his decision to re-evaluate his priorities such that Freemasonry no longer fit comfortably with into his life.

To quote Abraham Lincoln

The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), U.S. president.
Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on internal improvements, June 20, 1848

Without going into deep contemplation on the subject, this is a sentiment that is rippling through many organizations today, not just Freemasonry – is the organization I belong to meeting the needs of its members, in particular this member, me?  I can say I’m familiar with a church whose congregation is going through its own crisis of faith, similarly to the ones above,  over the administrative dealings not being handled with transparency and to the will of its membership.  This can certainly make fair dealing seem to be in short supply and worse still re-evaluate the priorities of such an organization.

The remedy?  The only thing we can do is keep checking the measure of good vs. bad on the scale of our toleration…the answer from which will come to us soon enough, usually when we’ve personally found our disenfranchisement threshold crossed and need to act.

Or at least not care anymore.

Perhaps unnecessary to say, like most religions the present day Golden Dawn comes in several styles, each practicing in a lineage from the systems founders – William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.  Of interesting relevancy, each was a Freemason and a member of S.R.I.A., the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia which is a Trinitarian Christian Masonic order.

While the videos present an interesting glimpse of costumed ceremony, I found a tremendous insight in reading The Essential Golden Dawn by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero.  The books subtitle is An Introduction to High Magic, but what I found most interesting were the descriptions of the degrees and grades of membership.  The Cicero’s do their level best to describe the work, which by most concerned with the order, consider it magic.

“Magic”, the Cicero’s say, “inclines toward thinking and doing while religion gravitates toward feeling and being.  The two are very definitely related, but they are not identical.  The yearning for the supernatural propels them both, though in different ways.”

As a good primer, The Essential Golden Dawn will satisfy a more than passive curiosity about the system and give you a better than Wikipedia sense of its history and key players.  What I found most valuable was the in detail descriptions of the grades

In contrast, I looked at Israel Regardie’s The Golden Dawn for an examination of the rituals and was surprised by their similarity to, what I can only assume to be, their Masonic inspiration.  This parallel is a theme echoed by the Cicero’s when they say of the Golden Dawn that “…the initiation ceremonies of the Golden Dawn are based on a series of mystery plays or ritual dramas in which the officers reenact specific mythologies that are essential to the Western Esoteric Tradition.”  Ritual plays, I believe, are the foundation of the Masonic ritual, of at least the third degree.  Regardie’s work is an apostasy of sorts given his publication of the Golden Dawn rituals in

Not so much in the details, but in the space between them.  Often, the parallels come in the ideas or the word usage which triggers the Masonic memory that a “so mote it be” can do.  But reading the rituals for depth, what struck me was the emphasis of trying to derive a greater symbolic meaning from the costumes, wands, rituals, and ephemera.

This parallel is a theme echoed by the Cicero’s when they say of the Golden Dawn that “…the initiation ceremonies of the Golden Dawn are based on a series of mystery plays or ritual dramas in which the officers reenact specific mythologies that are essential to the Western Esoteric Tradition.”  Ritual plays, I believe, are the foundation of the Masonic ritual, of at least the third degree.  Regardie’s work is an apostasy of sorts given his publication of the Golden Dawn rituals in 1971.  Yet, it was his publication of those rituals which most who practice the system today say saved it from extinction.

So, without going into more of the history or the books, have a look at a few videos from the Golden Dawn tradition.

This video has a lot of circumambulation and ritual practice.

You can find quite a few more videos from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on YouTube channel.

And, just for fun, the video below is an explanation from someone who claims to be in the know.

Wikipedia says of the chest that…

When closed and hanging on a wall it takes up an area of approximately 39 inches by 20 inches with a 9 inch depth. It opens to become a 40 inch by 40 inch tool chest. The chest is made out of mahogany, rosewood, walnut, ebony, and mother of pearl, materials that were probably taken from the Poole Piano Company’s scrap material.  Read more on Wikipedia about Henry O. Studley.

The story goes that before Br. Studley died in 1925, he gave the chest to a friend which has made its way to the Smithsonian in the late 1980sand later into a private collection..

Early in the search I found this…

The tip off link in the video comes at 1:28, but you have to look sharp to catch it.  When you watch, try and absorb the craftsmanship.

At the end, the narrator from the DiY channel says “One can only imagine the kind of piano that Mr. Studley was able to build.”

I can imagine Studley building the kind of piano not made by hands…

Albert Pike

This collection of Albert Pike Quotes comes from the Apprentice Degree in Morals and Dogma.

While one could extract all manner of quotes from the book, these struck me as most succinct of his teachings as they seem to emit double or triple understandings to their meaning.  As he progresses in the degrees you can definitely sense his take on the the more esoteric side of the fraternity, of which this is a taste.

Enjoy.

Excerpts from the 1° – Apprentice Degree
Morals and Dogma
by Albert Pike,
1871

FORCE, unregulated or ill-regulated, is not only wasted in the void, like that of gunpowder burned in the open air, and steam unconfined by science; but, striking in the dark, and its blows meeting only the air, they recoil and bruise itself.

The blind Force of the people is a Force that must be economized, and also managed, as the blind Force of steam, lifting the ponderous iron arms and turning the large wheels, is made to bore and rifle the cannon and to weave the most delicate lace. It must be regulated by Intellect.

Intellect is to the people and the people’s Force, what the slender needle of the compass is to the ship–its soul, always counseling the huge mass of wood and iron, and always pointing to the north.

Thought is a force, and philosophy should be an energy, finding its aim and its effects in the amelioration of mankind.

The two great motors are Truth and Love.

The POWER of the Deity Himself is in equilibrium with His WISDOM. Hence the only results are HARMONY.

Deeds of daring dazzle history, and form one class of the guiding lights of man. They are the stars and coruscation from that great sea of electricity, the Force inherent in the people.

To strive, to brave all risks, to perish, to persevere, to be true to one’s self, to grapple body to body with destiny, to surprise defeat by the little terror it inspires, now to confront unrighteous power, now to defy intoxicated triumph–these are the examples that the nations need and the light that electrifies them.

It is the force of the people that sustains all these despotisms, the basest as well as the best.

Less glory is more liberty.

Thus the spirit of liberty and innovation is reduced by bayonets, and principles are struck dumb by cannon-shot; while the monks mingle with the troopers, and the Church militant and jubilant, Catholic or Puritan, sings Te Deums for victories over rebellion.

The force of the people is exhausted in indefinitely prolonging things long since dead; in governing mankind by embalming old dead tyrannies of Faith; restoring dilapidated dogmas; re gilding faded, worm-eaten shrines; whitening and rouging ancient and barren superstitions; saving society by multiplying parasites; perpetuating superannuated institutions; enforcing the worship of symbols as the actual means of salvation; and tying the dead corpse of the Past, mouth to mouth, with the living Present.

Despotisms, seen in the past, become respectable, as the mountain, bristling with volcanic rock, rugged and horrid, seen through the haze of distance is blue and smooth and beautiful.

The sight of a single dungeon of tyranny is worth more, to dispel illusions, and create a holy hatred of despotism, and to direct FORCE aright, than the most eloquent volumes.

The FORCE of the people cannot, by its unrestrained and fitful action, maintain and continue in action and existence a free Government once created. That Force must be limited, restrained, conveyed by distribution into different channels…

The FORCE of the people, or the popular will, in action and exerted, symbolized by the GAVEL, regulated and guided by and acting within the limits of LAW and ORDER, symbolized by the TWENTY-FOUR-INCH RULE, has for its fruit LIBERTY, EQUALITY, and FRATERNITY,–liberty regulated by law; equality of rights in the eye of the law; brotherhood with its duties and obligations as well as its benefits.

The rough Ashlar is the PEOPLE, as a mass, rude and unorganized. The perfect Ashlar, or cubical stone, symbol of perfection, is the STATE, the rulers deriving their powers from the con-sent of the governed…

Though Masonry neither usurps the place of, nor apes religion, prayer is an essential part of our ceremonies. It is the aspiration of the soul toward the Absolute and Infinite Intelligence, which is the One Supreme Deity, most feebly and mis-understandingly characterized as an “ARCHITECT.”

The unknown is an ocean, of which conscience is the compass. Thought, meditation, prayer, are the great mysterious pointing of the needle. It is a spiritual magnetism that thus connects the human soul with the Deity.

It is but a shallow scoff to say that prayer is absurd, because it is not possible for us, by means of it, to persuade God to change His plans.

Our free agency and our will are forces. We do not absurdly cease to make efforts to attain wealth or happiness, prolong life, and continue health, because we cannot by any effort change what is predestined. If the effort also is predestined, it is not the less our effort, made of our free will. So, likewise, we pray. Will is a force. Thought is a force. Prayer is a force.

Man is not to be comprehended as a starting-point, or progress as a goal, without those two great forces, Faith and Love. Prayer is sublime.

Every Lodge is a Temple, and as a whole, and in its details symbolic. The Universe itself supplied man with the model for the first temples reared to the Divinity.

It is the Master of this Lodge, of the Universe, Hermes, of whom Khurum(Hiram) is the representative, that is one of the lights of the Lodge.

To study and seek to interpret correctly the symbols of the Universe, is the work of the sage and philosopher. It is to decipher the writing of God, and penetrate into His thoughts.

… Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, are the perfections of everything, and nothing can endure without them.

… there should be Wisdom to conceive, Strength to support, and Beauty to adorn, all great and important undertakings.

The Wisdom and Power of the Deity are in equilibrium.

Omnipotent power, infinite, and existing alone, would necessarily not be constrained to consistency.

The laws of God are not obligatory on us because they are the enactments of His POWER, or the expression of His WILL; but because they express His infinite WISDOM. They are not right because they are His laws, but His laws because they are right.

Wisdom, Power, and Harmony constitute one Masonic triad

…the wisdom of the Architect is displayed in combining, as only a skillful Architect can do, and as God has done everywhere,–for example, in the tree, the human frame, the egg, the cells of the honeycomb–strength, with grace, beauty, symmetry, proportion, lightness, ornamentation.

Harmony in this, as in all the Divine, the material, and the human, is the result of equilibrium, of the sympathy and opposite action of contraries; a single Wisdom above them holding the beam of the scales.

To reconcile the moral law, human responsibility, free-will, with the absolute power of God; and the existence of evil with His absolute wisdom, and goodness, and mercy,–these are the great enigmas of the Sphinx.

The Dimensions of the Lodge, our Brethren of the York Rite say, “are unlimited, and its covering no less than the canopy of Heaven.” “To this object,” they say, “the mason’s mind is continually directed, and thither he hopes at last to arrive by the aid of the theological ladder which Jacob in his vision saw ascending from earth to Heaven; the three principal rounds of which are denominated Faith, Hope, and Charity; and which admonish us to have Faith in God, Hope in Immortality, and Charity to all mankind.”

The Square is a right angle, formed by two right lines. It is adapted only to a plane surface, and belongs only to geometry, earth-measurement, that trigonometry which deals only with planes, and with the earth, which the ancients supposed to be a plane. The Compass describes circles, and deals with spherical trigonometry, the science of the spheres and heavens. The former, therefore, is an emblem of what concerns the earth and the body; the latter of what concerns the heavens and the soul.

… still the divine ever mingles with the human; with the earthly the spiritual intermixes; and there is something spiritual in the commonest duties of life.

… woe to that people which, seeking the material only, forgets that it has a soul.

Genuflection before the idol or the dollar atrophies the muscle which walks and the will which moves.

Hieratic or mercantile absorption diminishes the radiance of a people, lowers its horizon by lowering its level, and deprives it of that understanding of the universal aim, at the same time human and divine, which makes the missionary nations.

A free people, forgetting that it has a soul to be cared for, devotes all its energies to its material advancement.

The citizens copy after the State, and regard wealth, pomp, and luxury as the great goods of life. Such a nation creates wealth rapidly, and distributes it badly. Thence the two extremes, of monstrous opulence and monstrous misery; all the enjoyment to a few, all the privations to the rest, that is to say, to the people; Privilege, Exception, Monopoly, Feudality, springing up from Labor itself: a false and dangerous situation, which, making Labor a blinded and chained Cyclops, in the mine, at the forge, in the workshop, at the loom, in the field, over poisonous fumes, in miasmatic cells, in unventilated factories, founds public power upon private misery, and plants the greatness of the State in the suffering of the individual.

It is a greatness ill constituted, in which all the material elements are combined, and into which no moral element enters. If a people, like a star, has the right of eclipse, the light ought to return.

The Sun is the ancient symbol of the life-giving and generative power of the Deity. To the ancients, light was the cause of life; and God was the source from which all light flowed; the essence of Light, the Invisible Fire, developed as flame manifested as light and splendor.

The Sun was His manifestation and visible image; and the Sabæans worshiping the Light–God, seemed to worship the Sun, in whom they saw the manifestation of the Deity.

The “Master of Life” was the Supreme Deity, above both, and manifested through both; Zeus, the Son of Saturn, become King of the Gods; Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, become the Master of Life; Dionysusor Bacchus, like Mithras, become the author of Light and Life and Truth.

The Sun and Moon represent the two grand principles of all generations, the active and passive, the male and the female. The Sun represents the actual light. He pours upon the Moon his fecundating rays; both shed their light upon their offspring, the Blazing Star, or HORUS, and the three form the great Equilateral Triangle, in the center of which is the omnific letter of the Kabbalah, by which creation is said to have been effected.”

The word Prudentia means, in its original and fullest signification, Foresight; and, accordingly, the Blazing Star has been regarded as an emblem of Omniscience, or the All-seeing Eye, which to the Egyptian Initiates was the emblem of Osiris, the Creator. With the YOD in the center, it has the kabbalistic meaning of the Divine Energy, manifested as Light, creating the Universe.

The JUSTICE and MERCY of God are in equilibrium, and the result is HARMONY, because a Single and Perfect Wisdom presides over both.

…the great commandment of Masonry is this: “A new commandment give I unto you: that ye love one another! He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, remaineth still in the darkness.”

Many great deeds are done in the small struggles of life. There is, we are told, a determined though unseen bravery, which defends itself, foot to foot, in the darkness, against the fatal invasion of necessity and of baseness.

There are noble and mysterious triumphs, which no eye sees, which no renown rewards, which no flourish of trumpets salutes.

Life, misfortune, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battle-fields, which have their heroes, – heroes obscure, but sometimes greater than those who become illustrious. The Mason should struggle in the same manner, and with the same bravery, against those invasions of necessity and baseness, which come to nations as well as to men. He should meet them, too, foot to foot, even in the darkness, and protest against the national wrongs and follies; against usurpation and the first inroads of that hydra, Tyranny.

The protest of the Right against the Fact persists forever.

Whatever occurs, we should have Faith in the Justice and over-ruling Wisdom of God, and Hope for the Future, and Loving-kindness for those who are in error. God makes visible to men His will in events; an obscure text, written in a mysterious language. Men make their translations of it forthwith, hasty, incorrect, full of faults, omissions, and misreading.

It is absurd to say that Error, wounded, writhes in pain, and dies amid her worshipers. Truth conquers slowly. There is a wondrous vitality in Error. Truth, indeed, for the most part, shoots over the heads of the masses; or if an error is prostrated for a moment, it is up again in a moment, and as vigorous as ever. It will not die when the brains are out, and the most stupid and irrational errors are the longest-lived.

Masonry should be an energy; finding its aim and effect in the amelioration of mankind.

Morality is Faith in full bloom. Contemplation should lead to action, and the absolute be practical; the ideal be made air and food and drink to the human mind. Wisdom is a sacred communion. It is only on that condition that it ceases to be a sterile love of Science, and becomes the one and supreme method by which to unite Humanity and arouse it to concerted action. Then Philosophy becomes Religion.

…Masonry, like History and Philosophy, has eternal duties…

To be true, and to seek to find and learn the Truth, are the great objects of every good Mason.

Once again it is time for The Beehive’s annual Patriot’s Day message. Patriots Day is an obscure holiday celebrated in just one county – Middlesex – in Massachusetts. In the early years of our nation it was a National holiday but gradually July 4^th supplanted a similar celebration.

Patriot’s Day commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 where the shot was fired heard round the world. Having been born and raised in Lexington, the history of these battles was ingrained in me from an early age and later in life would mix with my Freemasonry.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march

By land or sea from the town to-night,

Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch

Of the North Church tower as a signal light,
–One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”

You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

William Munroe

Freemasons were prominent that day. While Paul Revere is the most notable Freemason involved, my favorite was Brother William Munroe an orderly Sergeant in the Lexington Minutemen.  Brother Munroe was proprietor of the Munroe Tavern, one of two taverns in Lexington at that time, the other being the Buckman Tavern at the Lexington Green where the Minute Men assembled awaiting the arrival of the British. He was stationed on an all night watch on the Lexington Green through the night of April 18,1775 into the morning of the April 19th. It was Munroe who received Paul Revere riding into Lexington with the news that, “The British are coming, the British are coming” (although historians are apt to point out that he probably said The Regulars or The Redcoats). Revere stopped at the Reverend Jonas Clark’s house to wake up and warn Brother John Hancock and patriot Sam Adams.

Munroe Tavern Lexington, Massachusetts

Meanwhile Munroe got the word out to Captain John Parker and other Minutemen. They were able to muster some 77 patriots on the Lexington Green to face about 700 British soldiers. Of those 77 some 20+ were Freemasons even though there was no Masonic Lodge in Lexington at that time. When Percy came in with British reinforcements later in the day he took over Munroe Tavern and used it as a command post and hospital.

Paul Revere

William Munroe was later to petition the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for a charter for Lexington’s first Masonic Lodge. When he took his request to the Grand East he was there met by Grand Master Paul Revere. Hiram Lodge became Lexington’s first Masonic Lodge and Munroe its first Master. The Lodge met for some 40 years at the Munroe Tavern.

In 1992 when I joined the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team that exemplified the Third Degree in colonial costume accompanied by a patriotic message, I searched for a Revolutionary War Freemason to represent as all the team members did. I chose William Munroe. As Master of Paul Revere Lodge in 1999 I took the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team to Simon W. Robinson Lodge bordering the Lexington Green where once again we exemplified the Third Degree remembering those who fought dearly for the freedoms we enjoy today. Afterward three Lodges that had come together for this special occasion held a Tri Table Lodge.

Today Munroe Tavern stands as a historical building just a stone’s throw from the Scottish Rite National Heritage Museum where you can visit their exhibit of “Sowing The Seeds of Liberty: Lexington & The American Revolution.” You can also see the ‘Lexington Alarm Letter” sent out on April 19,1775.

If you visit Lexington visit these two places as well as the Lexington Green and the Buckman Tavern. A great day to go is April 19^th, Patriot’s Day.

Buckman Tavern Lexington, Massachusetts

Related articles

• The Midnight Patriot : Paul Revere(broeder10.wordpress.com)

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• 38. Patriots’ Day 2012(zivling.wordpress.com)

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• Anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride, in the middle of National Poetry Month(timpanogos.wordpress.com)

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• ….it happened today…..1775(jrthetalker.wordpress.com)

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NOTE:  This is from my consulting practice, but also has bearing on the management of a Lodge.

One of the reasons AMC’s “Mad Men” television show is so popular is that it tries to authentically depict American attitudes and moods of the early 1960′s, including how business was conducted. Viewers find it fascinating how the Mad Men think, the priorities driving them, and how they interact with employees and customers. Recently, I was going through some of my father’s old papers back when he worked as Product Planning Manager at Remington Rand in New York City, the makers of the UNIVAC computer at the time. In particular, I came across a training manual entitled, “Creative Management Development” from 1961. Evidently it was used as part of a training class to groom managers for the company. Realizing this was from the same period and venue (corporate New York) as “Mad Men” I picked through the manual carefully to see the perspective of management back then.

The manual was rather thick and consisted of several sections featuring different lessons. In particular, I came across a chapter entitled, “Elements of Effective Supervision” which included the following:

“The most effective supervisor is the one who…

1. Delegates authority

2. Makes definite assignments and supervises by results

3. Minimized detailed orders

4. Uses low pressure

5. Trains subordinates

6. Does different work from that done by his subordinates

7. Spends his time on long-range rather than short-range problems

This is the pattern of what we call general supervision.

As superiors intrude on matters that rightfully should be handled by their subordinates, problems have a tendency to snowball. One subordinate described the situation this way: ‘As long as the boss gives us the right to make our own decisions, we cooperate with him. We report to him all the information he needs to answer to his boss, but the little things we don’t bother him with. But if he doesn’t give us any freedom we can make his life miserable. We can bombard his office with reports on everything we do. We can refuse to make a decision until we talk to him about it. We can stop saving his time by sifting the important from the unimportant and we can keep him on the run.’ “

Each of the seven sections were then explained in greater detail in the manual. The only problem I had between then and now was the distinction of supervisor versus manager. Whereas I tend to see a supervisor as someone working more closely with workers to assure work is performed properly, I tend to see a manager as more as a leader assessing priorities and plotting direction. Although the chapter referred to a “supervisor,” I believe they were actually describing the duties of a “manager.”

For some rather old management advice from over a half century ago, I found it rather refreshing and interesting. It confirms what we’ve been saying for years, that managers need to learn to manage from the bottom-up, not just top-down. Employees should be properly trained, empowered, and allowed to assume responsibility. In other words, managers should manage more and supervise less, which is just the antithesis of today’s micromanagement philosophy.

The management advice from 1961 is every bit as applicable today as it was back then, making it something we should reconsider. Maybe one of the reasons viewers find the “Mad Men” program interesting is because it represents a time when we were more concerned with results as opposed to political correctness. And maybe we wish we could actively participate in such companies as the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency where Don Draper is the charismatic creative director who knows how to make things happen. Maybe he attended the same training course with my father.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim’s columns, see:
timbryce.com

Tim is also the Secretary of Dunedin Lodge No. 192 F.& A.M. in Florida.

Copyright © 2012 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.