I found this website just now. It is an extensive site full of information about Freemasonry in the U.S. Looks interesting.
I have not read enough of the site to declare how good the information is, nor can I swear that I am a worthy judge even if I had. One should always judge for oneself the value of an information source. I will speak more of it when I have read more.
If anyone has links to any good Masonic sites, please leave a comment.
As much as I consider myself endlessly fascinating—somebody has to!—I have not expected that I would continue finding interesting new material for this blog. I expected routine to take over, and I would be repeating myself about the Masonic experience. Surprises, however, arise.
Last night was Step Up Night. I did not know what that meant. I knew there would be a cook out, which was attraction enough for me.
When I arrived, no cook out was evident, though a flatbed truck was in the parking lot. At the door were our two new Associate Stewards. They wore Thomas Talbot sashes and greeted arrivals.
Six candidates were to be entered as Entered Apprentices. I hung with a recently raised (last week) brother. I also met one of the candidates at the open house last winter. He was accompanied by his father-in-law, who belongs to another Lodge.
At the opening of the Lodge, I sat with a Past Master. It was helpful because I saw that our Junior Warden sat in the Senior Warden’s seat. When I commented, the Past Master explained Step Up Night. Simply, each of the officers step up to the office they will hold in the coming year. Well, that is interesting. A sort of spring training for the upcoming year.
ALL the officers were in new positions. And six candidates were to be entered. I like that, shaking things up.
Lodge was opened then we repaired to the cookout. Most of us went outside, where a gas grill (delivered by the flatbed) cooked burgers and hot dogs. New England was being kind, so the temperature was moderate and humidity low. We get three days like that each year, so enjoy, enjoy.
In the conversation, while we waited, a brother handed out cards for his activity as a clown for the Aleppo Shriners. The Shrine is one of the affiliated organizations of the Masons. Clowns are trained, and are available to cheer up sick children. Without cost.
A Past Master and his wife deserve credit for the cook out. They busily prepared and served the meal.
And food was consumed.
During dinner I mentioned that my grandfather was a Mason. I mentioned the uniform that my grandfather wore in the picture I have of him. I somehow had the idea that the uniform was Scottish Rites, but an older Brother said that my grandfather belonged to York Rites. He himself belonged to York Rites. In York Rites, you participate in the rituals, in Scottish Rites, you watch. Scottish Rites presents plays, like Mystery plays.
The ritual was nifty to watch. Most of the principals were in new positions. This is practice for when they assume their new offices. Memorizing what they have to memorize is impressive. As I have mentioned before, the vocabulary of the ritual is archaic, derived from the 18th Century. The locutions are more long-winded than we might speak today. To put that into your memory is hard work. A prompter is always at ready to supply lines.
Besides entering six new candidates, we voted on the applications of several other people and the reinstatement of someone. The vote is largely ceremonial. The name and address of the candidate is hardly enough information to make a determination on.
We actually voted on the new officers. This was just a formality. The system is that one moves through the various position to more responsibility until one reaches Worshipful Master. You can write in a candidate, but you would need a good reason to go against the people being prepared.
It will be interesting to see how things change with the new regime. These offices have substance mostly in the ritual. The Lodge is run by committee, that is the Service Committee, in which any Brother can participate. Still, different people bring different styles.
We were given ballots consisting of the offices and candidates. You could vote for someone outside the line, but it is obviously unlikely that write ins would garner any votes. They didn’t.
Still, we had to tear the ballot up and vote with each piece of the ballot for the respective candidate. This was rather silly, especially given that no candidate was opposed. We spent fifteen minutes tearing the ballots while hearing the announcements that someone had won the ballot with a shutout.
One further piece of business concerned delinquent dues. I read in the communication that the names of those who had not paid would be read at the meeting. I had never received any word about dues, did not even know how much it was. I contacted Terry, our Secretary, and paid him when I saw him on Sunday. He was not worried about my not paying.
Some discussion arose about whether the names should be read, but the by-laws state that they should. The list contained 60 names, which is a lot. One Brother, before the list was read, said, Whoa! I haven’t paid. I will pay right now. Which was funny.
I have no problem having the list read (though I do have a problem being on the list). The dues are not high, and it is easy to see where the money goes. I take it that if circumstances are difficult, one can make arrangements. People can be pretty lax about these sorts of duties.
Anyway, the list was read. I recognized none of the names. I asked someone who was raised at the time I was if he had been given a dues notice, and he hadn’t. Nor had he paid, yet. His name was not read.
The Brother who spoke about York Rites was somewhat abashed that he was coatless. Other Brothers were, in anticipation of a stuffy Lodge Room. I wondered how to dress because of the temperature, and also because of the cookout, but opted for my lighter jacket and what the heck. I did not suffer.
This Brother, by the way, is our oldest Past Master. That is, his term was earlier than any other surviving Brother, predating Terry.
The doors to the Lodge Room, including the outside door, were open, and fans ran. This would presumably be against strict observance of tyling, or tiling, since cowans could be lurking. I still have not discovered the derivation of this term. I guess the sense is tiled over, as in closed off. Even certain parts of the website, where personal information is, must be tiled, that is, a secure server.
After the meeting, I made a quick visit to the dessert table then hurried home.
I have missed a number of recent Masonic activities lately, to wit:
So it goes. I am especially sorry that I missed the special communication, I want to see the Third Degree again. Also, I want to support the new members.
Today I managed to get to the breakfast. I did not arrive until around 7:30. Because we were shorthanded, I was recruited to do scrambled eggs. The pressure was on.
Past Master Bob, who has District responsibilities, took me in hand. It truly took me years to learn to cook scrambled eggs properly, but at that, I was not doing industrial levels of production.
The method is thus:
Briefly blend a quantity of eggs and half that quantity of milk. These proportions make up for inconsistency in eggs size. I do not add milk at home, just a splash of water. Blend them on lowest spend till the milk disappears into the egg. Fry in an electric pan.
May not sound like much but I barely saw the dining room. I moved between my two stations, and as orders came up I put eggs on the plates.
It was hot in the kitchen, and rainy outside. I had the advantage of being near a window, but that was not enough.
Though breakfast runs from 8-10, people arrived after 10:30. When demand finally stopped, I scrubbed dishes.
There is little to call especially Masonic about the breakfast. It is a friendly time, despite the pressure. What distinguishes Freemasonry from other organizations?
Camaraderie exists in most social organizations, I imagine. I belong to one other organization, Toastmasters. The focus differs greatly—I would even say completely—from the Masons. In Toastmasters, we gather to give and hear speeches. Nevertheless, a camaraderie exists, just like with the Masons.
Freemasonry offers the attraction of its rituals. I, personally, enjoy watching and participating in these rituals. York Rites and Scottish Rites offer even more ritual.
The rituals are lessons, if you want to focus on their philosophic aspect. That is, you can join Freemasonry to improve yourself, just as I joined Toastmasters to improve my ability to speak in public.
Freemasonry offers a regular calendar of social events, some keyed specifically to Freemasonry, like the monthly communications, and some that could been any organization, like the blood drive or monthly breakfast.
I am reading a book of Freemasonry, The Masonic Myth by Jay Kinney. I could find few books on Masons in my local library network. Most that I saw seemed like rabid exposés of those colluding, controversial Masons. That stuff is just too much for me.
Kinney’s book seems lucidly informative. He is a Mason, but avoids defensiveness and proselytizing.
The history of Freemasonry is just plain murky. There were many antecedents to the current organization. These antecedents were sometimes at odds with each other. This causes confusion and inconsistency. The various wings of the organizations have settled under a single aegis. To look at all that as a singular vision of conspiracy is to be ridiculous. I have been a Mason for five months, and actively participated in not one conspiracy. Darn.
I learned prior to reading the book, but Kinney expatiated on the point, that too much is made of the 33 degrees of Masonry. I believe the 33rd degree itself is honorific, but of the others, one only witnesses the ritual of a handful. You get a Cliff Notes version of all the rituals. It takes a few weekend intensives to reach the upper strata of degrees. And to do so does not make you more of a Mason. So there you are. No, you do it because it interests you.
Tomorrow is the regular communication, and a barbecue. No communications during the summer. I think early in the fall we vote on new officers.