Congratulations, Anti-Masons!

An Open Letter To Anti-Masons

Dear Anti-Masons,

On behalf of Baphomet and Jahbulon and the guy with the red suit and pitchfork in that hot place, I’d like to thank your more enthusiastic members for performing their Masonic duty.

Yes, your plan is going just as you hoped. The rantings and ravings by certain of your boisterous flock are continuing to swell our Lodges with new members.

Why, just the other day, a rather tall young man you can find on the internet as ‘Lightseeker’ received his First Degree along with two other men in one of the local Lodges in his area. Oh, this isn’t another one of those “lies” you keep saying we Masons are full of. Read about it HERE. It’s true! I swear on the severed head of Albert Pike we’re keeping alive in the matrix under the Denver Airport. Oh, wait. That’s one of our secrets. Forget I said it.

Secrets! Ah, yes. Baphy and Jabby were telling me just the other day the chuckles they have when your more extreme members spew about Masonic secrets on-line but they do so while hiding their identities and any information about them. Some may call it hypocrisy, but Baphy says it’s hilarity.

Even better, Bro. ‘Lightseeker’ got out and visited a Lodge only a few days later to see a First Degree conferred on two more men. It was great to meet him. Meeting new people is part of the benefits of being a Freemason; people you wouldn’t meet under other circumstances, from different towns and different parts of this dusty old globe. Sure better than sitting behind a keyboard and coming up with new ways to con people into still thinking the Taxil Hoax is real like you guys have to do. But Mrs. Baphy says she’ll send over some Devil’s Food Cake to your anti clubhouse for your next meeting. Devil’s Food Cake! That Mrs. Baphy, always kidding. The other day, she called her husband “an old goat.” Oh, I’m getting off the subject here. Kinda like when you guys post on Usenet. Anyway...

A shame Bro. Trudeau didn’t stay for the Festive Board, because that’s another fun part of belonging to a fraternity. We had pizza. Did you know, antis, if you arrange the slices just right and squint really hard, you can form one of those Washington, D.C. maps? Yeah, the maps that you say is prove we’re evil! Well, you have to squint and drink a lot of beer to get the proper visuals. And not eat the slices. Jabby says that’s the tough part. Feel free to talk about the pizza “proof” on one of your sites. It’ll fit in with everything else you write.

Oh, before I forget, let me tell you guys that a Senior DeMolay is getting his First Degree in another Lodge this week. Come on, antis, you’re slacking off on The Grand Plan. There’s only one of those DeMolays this week! Can one of you guys put out another ‘Satan’s Kindergarten’ book or something, because the 33-plus-degree Masons are sure we’d get a few more that way. What number degree Masons am I talking about? Oh, that’s a secret. You didn’t think all that stuff about “33” being the “highest” was true, did you? It’s just something to give you something to write about on those web-sites of yours. Baphy has a good laugh over that.

So, in closing, thank you again antis for your campaign to post such laughable dis-information about Freemasonry, you continue to help the fraternity gain members.

Yours,
Justa

Son of “Beyond the Valley of the...” etc.

If Hollywood can have sequel after sequel based on fictional books, so can your humble Justa.

You’ve no doubt read our original post and its sequel with links to newspaper articles spawned by the editorial mantra “We’d better get local reaction to that DaVinci sequel.” Well, we have a couple more.

One is from Owen Sound, Ontario and the other comes from Naperville, Illinois. The picture is from the latter article, linked from the Sun website.

They’re both pretty good articles. I don’t know if the Grand Master in Ontario sent out a news release in advance of his trip to Owen Sound announcing his arrival and his availability to speak to the media about that sequel book. If he did, it’s.... well, it’s pretty progressive on someone’s part. Progressive for Freemasonry, that is.

There’s also this article from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

It’s a bit of an odd duck journalistic piece because it asks the question “What is Freemasonry?” and never really provides an answer. In fact, I’m bowled over by a couple of things in it, but no more so than this from the reporter:

They won't say, for example, whether any living U.S.
president is a Mason but will list the deceased presidential Masons.

“They” won’t? Who’s “they”? Setting aside the purely American semantical oddity that someone who is no longer in office is still deemed “a U.S. president,” I’ll say that the current incumbent in office and no living former presidents have ever been members of the fraternity. That information should be readily available on the internet. In fact, it’s even in the Illinois newspaper article I’ve linked to.

And unless they do things differently in Masonic Lodges in Cedar Rapids, the reporter got her information a little mixed up:

Two men are seated in the center of the room, behind a table that displays an open holy book

Though she’s quoting a “past Grand High Priest over Iowa’s Freemasons” (does the York Rite really have that much power in that state?), I have my suspicions no one is sitting in the centre of the Lodge room. After all, it’s never been done that way. So, in Masonry, that means it can never happen.

Another Dip Into Justa’s Ask-It Basket

It’s been several months since we’ve had a look inside our basket to see what queries and comments have been left behind by people looking at this blog. So, let’s do so now.

Woking, Surrey: Funny Masonic Graces
You can tell there’s a cultural difference between Masonry in North America and in the land of the Mother Grand Lodges. Masons occasionally come here hunting for Masonic toasts or graces, and they’re almost always from England and never the United States. American Lodges don’t seem to have a festive board/harmony/South like you find in the British Commonwealth. Americans are more inclined, by my experience anyway, to have dinner before the meetings and even wives and friends are welcome.
That being said, I’m sure some Past Masters would turn up their nose (at an appropriate Masonic angle) at the very idea of a “funny” Grace. After all, the occasion is solemn and is to thank our Creator for sustenance and perhaps health and friendship. Regardless, here’s a story:

The Master calls for everyone to pray attention to the Chaplain for Grace, but the Chaplain is not in his place. The Master briefly panicks, looks around, spots the Senior Deacon and, catching him off-guard, asks him to give thanks to the Great Architect (surprise addresses are also apparently an olde Masonic custom). The Deacon turns his eyes skyward and comes up with this doggerel on the spot:
I’m surprisingly addressing you, Lord.
The grace should be done by the Chaplain.
But he’s stuck in a line at our bar.
It seems with the Devil he’s grapplin.’

Hey, you’re getting this blog for free. Don’t expect Robert Service.

United Kingdom: Masonic room of death.
For a moment, I thought this was the title of an episode of The Simpsons. My guess is the blog visitor might have been looking for information about the Chamber of Reflection, which is used in some rituals outside of the U.K. and North America.
W. Bro. H.L. da Costa of one of the Lodges in Vancouver wrote a paper on it some years ago that can be found at the Grand Lodge of B.C. and Yukon web site.
Compare that to ante-rooms I’ve seen for preparation of candidates, illuminated (oh, the irony!) by fluorescent lights, with chairs and tables stacked against a wall and never-to-be-repaired furniture that had been shoved in a corner years ago to gather dust. Not only does such not provide an opportunity for even the remotest reflection prior to initiation, but it makes our rooms look like a junk yard or a storage room, not the spot where one should be engaging in the serious task of becoming a Mason. The only thought that must come to the candidate’s mind is Masons don’t care an awful lot about their meeting place or ceremonies.

United States: What does it mean when a mason asks three letter or four?
It’s turnaround time, as we have a reference that will likely baffle Freemasons of the British Commonwealth and outside the sphere of American influence.
Grand Lodges in the U.S., for the most part, designate themselves “Free and Accepted Masons” or “Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons.” Numerous tales have developed about why this is so. Myths, being the only explanations heard, are thus passed down from generation to generation as if they’re some kind of Great Masonic Truth.
The one I chuckle at is from those serious-meined chaps who insist it has something to do with ritual; that some other state’s ritual is different because “Oh, they’re Ancient Free and Accepted. We’re Free and Accepted.” Evidently, they’ve never studied the Baltimore Convention and later numerous attempts in the 19th century to come up with a common ritual for all states.
Others inexplicably colour-code it. I’ve read on line how A.F. and A.M. is a code word for “Prince Hall” and F. and A.M. is, for want of a better phrase, “the other kind.” That would be news to Masons in my area, because the designations are the reverse.
Probably closer to the real answer is it dates from the creation of Grand Lodges on the U.S. eastern seaboard during and immediately after the Revolutionary War and whether or not the Lodges which made up the new Grand Lodges stemmed from the “Ancient” Grand Lodge of England. For later Grand Lodges, it’s a stylistic choice. For example, the Grand Lodge of Oregon is A.F. and A.M. Washington State, which sprung from Oregon, is F. and A.M.

Chicago: Why can’t masons discuss what goes on in their meeting?
Here’s a little primer on how just about any club works. If you want to know what happens at their meetings, become a member. Otherwise, it’s really none of your business.
However, Masons can certainly discuss meetings in general terms. In fact, your friendly Justa has done so in this post.

United States: How can you tell if someone is a freemason?
By asking him and getting a “yes” or “no” in response.
Okay, perhaps I’m being unnecessarily glib. I have no idea why the question was asked; it could very well be someone is passing himself off as a Mason as a joke, or for some nefarious reason. If that is the case, an e-mail to the local Grand Lodge office stating the situation and requesting confirmation might suffice.
As for Masons in a private Lodge setting, there are certain methods of authentication, though I admit I’ve been taken aback some times by visiting Past Masters who don’t even know them.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Masonic 50 year member poems.
I can sympathise a bit with the brother who made this enquiry because poetry is not an easy thing to write (if you don’t believe me, you apparently skipped past the beginning of this post). But I’ve said before I really feel when a brother is being honoured for an accomplishment, it is far better to come up with some words personally about the individual and from the heart than just plugging in some generic stuff from the internet.
Still, poetry can always be adapted and if anyone reading has a well-crafted verse or two appropriate for a special night for a special brother, feel free to leave it in the comment box.
Below is something I’ve banged off that’s not exactly Service either. But maybe it’s service-able. (That's a pun. Please laugh).

THE FIFTY-YEAR MASON

Two trembling knees, some covered eyes,
A sword jabbed at his breast.
What happened next was all a blur;
He can’t recall the rest.

They told him of a way of life;
How to act to one another.
‘Twas fifty years ago tonight
They all would call him brother.

For weeks, he learned the ancient words
Of square and rule and trowel
Though incorrectness always brought
An old Past Master’s growl.

The years have passed, some came and went
But in Lodge he still remains.
A reward he’s earned that’s better far
Than mere material gains.

For cash does not a Mason find,
Nor gold for selfish ends.
His fortune is more valuable.
He gains a wealth of friends.

Young men have come; they want to know
Of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.
Our brother stays to tell them all
Because he knows that is his duty.

“I was taught, so now I teach,
It’s the true Masonic way.
For others will follow in their path
They’ll have to teach some day.”

Let’s celebrate those fifty years
Since the knocks at the Tyler’s door.
And Masons here and Masons far
Do wish him fifty more.

You can peer into other Ask-it-Baskets here and here.

That Ball is Going... Going...

Since it’s World Series time, your humble Justa “Can of Corn” Mason is marking the season by posting the following cute little news item from 80 years ago this month. Freemasonry only plays a coincidental role in the story but, being a baseball history fan, I thought it was worth passing on.

This is from the Ludington (Michigan) Daily News of October 11, 1929.

Jack Pegs 6 Balls Over Masonic Hall So ‘Pitts’ Pays Bet
An argument about the relative merits of World Series pitchers cost Milton (Pitts) Stalter $5 this morning when Jack Varner backed up his argument with a demonstration of just what he meant by “pitching.”
“Say, listen, some of this stuff about pitchers in the Series gives me a big pain,” Jack is reported to have said. At this point, Stalter differed vociferously with him with the result that Varner could not throw six balls over the Masonic Temple from the sidewalk in front of J.B. Smith Recreation hall.
The balls were secured and a crowd gathered to witness the show. Jack took his coat off, rubbed his hands in the dirt, spit on the ball, wound up and let fly. It cleared the top of the building by at least 30 feet. In quick succession the remaining five balls followed, whereupon Jack collected his bet, remarking “I hate to take this because I failed to tell you that I pitched on the Oklahoma City team for four years.”

The photo of the building in question is from Google Maps. You can’t see it due to the sun’s reflection, but it says “Masonic Temple” at the top and there are symbols in the arches above the windows.

I suspect neither gentleman in this story was a Mason. After all, we all know if one of them was a member of the Craft, six balls wouldn’t have been used. The number would have been three, five or seven.

Coming soon.. a post on baseball and Lodge events.

The Irony of Anti-Masonry

It was only a matter of time before someone doing a newspaper story on “the Masons’” reaction to the Brown novel would get some reaction from the other side. It seems only fair. And it gives you an idea of how weak the antis’ arguement against Freemasonry really is.

You can read the newspaper story here.

Let me say that if someone feels their religious beliefs are incompatible with Freemasonry, they shouldn’t become members. No one is forcing anyone to join. Such a thing would be silly; you can’t coerce someone into being a good member of a volunteer organisation. But one would hope that someone would be honest enough with themselves that their opposition to Masonic membership is legitimate.

The reporter, in my estimation, puts his finger on the situation in a few short words:

So why would anyone label the Freemasons a cult? Maybe it has to do with members’ mystery-shrouded rituals

If someone strips away the mystery and uses equivalents from normal, every-day life that people are acquainted with, they can see how off-centre some of the arguements against Masonic membership are.

One of the points made by the anti-Mason in the story was:

he also says it’s [Freemasonry is] anti-Christian because it doesn’t require belief in the God of the Bible

That’s quite true. Neither does the 4-H Club, the Book of the Month club, a membership at a gym or the Boy Scouts. Substitute any of these groups for “Freemasonry” and you can see how ridiculous the claim is.

Later, we read:

[Freemasonry] demands that members swear oaths despite the Bible’s proscription against such practices.

Of course, the President of the United States takes an oath of office. Oaths are still common in a court of law. Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath. If an anti went around bleating that the U.S. government, the justice system or being treated by a doctor was anti-Christian, he’d be laughed at as a nut-job.

Ah, but Freemasonry has those “mystery-shrouded rituals.” Most people aren’t Freemasons and don’t know about Freemasonry. Being unfamiliar with it, they’re more willing to buy into false claims of “anti-Christian.” How are they to know otherwise? Make the same claim about the Boy Scouts, and they’ll call BS on it.

A more interesting claim is:

The organization is based on ancient fertility cults, not stoneworkers’ groups and spiritual knowledge

Anti-Masons should realise that just as anyone can connect-the-dots to “prove” untrue things about Freemasonry, anyone can do the same about anything else. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to point out things like Easter eggs and Christmas trees, and connect the next dot to make the claim that Christianity “is based on ancient fertility cults.” The line of reasoning is no different. Such a claim would be laughable, of course. As laughable as the claim about Freemasonry and “ancient fertility rites.”

I don’t know of any fertility rites that show off stonemasons’ tools, have a discourse on the building of a temple from the Old Testament, or give admonitions to be good citizens and help others in need if possible.

Antis seem quite willing to ignore the fact that symbols can be, have been, and are, used in different ways in different eras and places. What someone else did with them is meaningless, as meaningless as what so-called pagans did with trees that today are lovingly decorated by Christian families during the season to honour Christ’s birth (trees topped with a star that antis have linked to Satan, no less).

It’s how Freemasonry uses those symbols that is relevant to its members, not anyone else.

I’m sure many Masons could echo the thoughts of one of the Masons interviewed:

“It [Freemasonry] has helped me solidify my (Christian) faith.”

I would hope so. There’s no reason it should not. Faith is one of the principle virtues outlined in the First Degree. Masons are reminded throughout the ceremonies to follow the tenets of their faith, not to ignore them or toss them away. In fact, that is one of their duties.

Granted, Masons are free to decide their religious beliefs for themselves. In democratic nations, such things are even protected by law. In the United States freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Constitution. Anti-Masons seem to have a problem with that. Yet, were they to screech and parrot each other on web sites that the U.S. Constitution is “anti-Christian,” their beliefs would be readily seen for the foolishness they are.

When it comes to Freemasonry, the ones who cry “cult” are generally the ones who want to dictate what religious beliefs others should follow.

The irony seems to escape them.

The Last Visit

One of the real joys of Freemasonry is being able to entertain visitors, especially those from far away. I think I enjoy greeting someone from a foreign clime for the first time more than I do going to other Lodges myself, and that’s always a lot of fun.

But imagine entertaining visitors after your Lodge meeting, heading home, only to get up the next morning and be told the grim news that your new friends had been killed in a car accident after leaving the Masonic Hall. And that one is past the age of 90 and another is over 80.

That sad scenario has unfolded near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The only slight difference is a Masonic Lodge was not involved, but one of a number of Masonic-linked organisations, the Order of True Kindred.

Likely even few Freemasons know about the Order, especially outside the United States. You can read about it here.

But first, read about the accident here and/or here.

You will learn about the calibre of women whose lives were taken.

It isn’t much, but let me express my heartfelt sympathies to the families of those killed.

Congratulations, New Brunswick

Freemasonry in one of Canada’s eastern-most provinces has celebrated a birthday this past weekend, and one of the newspapers there has done a little write-up here.

There are a couple of unusual things that struck me about the story, mainly from a journalistic standpoint. Many newspapers and periodicals in the last several decades have put in print variations on the ‘declining membership-only old folks left’ theme. More recently it’s been the ‘membership turnaround-look at all those young people’ angle. But this paper did neither. It simply states:

Nonetheless, they continued to thrive to the point where there are now 3,500 members of the Order of Free and Accepted Masons in 35 lodges spread across New Brunswick.

Nothing about a rise or fall of membership. Just some simple numbers. That’ll drive stats freaks to screech “But it doesn’t tell the whole story!”

You’d think an historical story about an anniversary would have prompted at least a line about Day Number One lo those many years ago. But there’s no mention at all. So, to fill you in, courtesy of Freemasonry in Canada in a piece written by Thomas Walker, PGM:

The history of Freemasonry in New Brunswick may be said to have commenced the 7th November 1783, when Jared Betts wrote from St. Ann’s, N.S., now Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, to Joseph Peters, Secretary of Master’s Lodge No. 211, Halifax, to know if he could proceed under a warrant which he held granted by Dermott who is described as the Grand Master of Ireland. The authority in this warrant was denied and a dispensation was actually issued from the two warranted lodges, Nos. 155 and 211, then existing in Halifax.

New Brunswick’s first Lodge was instituted on 7 September 1784 and called Hiram Lodge. It didn’t have a happy time of it. Says Walker:

In 1795 Hiram Lodge “rebelled” against the authority of the Provincial Grand Lodge, at Halifax, by which it had been warranted as No. 17. On September 7th, 1796, its warrant was withdrawn by the Provincial Grand Lodge, and all its members, twenty-two in number, were “expelled for apostacy,” etc.

Walker’s history isn’t any more specific. Of course, if it happened today, Masons would be clucking on it all over the internet. The Grand Lodge of New Brunswick was organised 10 October 1867.

However, the reporter wins points from your friendly Justa for avoiding any tie-in with a book on the market right now, and plainly states the fraternity’s religious requirement, what its general purpose is and reveals some of the fine charity work done by the Atlantickers.

The other odd thing is the opening sentence:

More than 200 years ago, there were no automobiles, said W. G. Macx MacNichol of Dorchester, secretary and past master of the Sussex Lodge No. 4 and public relations officer for the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that stating the obvious?

You can read an earlier story here.

Auntie Grace

There’s a 95-year-old woman who has been made happy by some boys she doesn’t know.

They’re Auntie Grace’s children. Well, that’s what she calls them, anyway.

Auntie Grace’s husband and brother both joined one of the local Lodges after World War Two. Pretty soon, she got involved with the new Job’s Daughters Bethel which started not far from her little home. Regal DeMolay Chapter was formed there, too, by members of Beaver Chapter in Vancouver. Year in, and year out, decade after decade, there was Grace, at almost every conceivable function organised by the girls or the boys. Always lending her encouragement and reminding us all how much we meant to her.

Times have been tough for fraternal groups over the last number of years. Grace’s Bethel closed. Her Bethel’s daughter-Bethel closed. Regal DeMolay Chapter closed in the mid ’80s and some of the few remaining members moved across the city boundary to Vancouver and Beaver Chapter. The best part of it was Auntie Grace came in the deal.

The members of Beaver Chapter loved Grace. They loved her so much they did something never done before in the history of DeMolay. They made her Chapter Sweetheart for Life. They even gave her a banner in a little public ceremony.

The guys in Beaver grew out of their teens and vanished into the world of adulthood, but Auntie Grace stayed on. Every meeting sitting with the mothers, and every installation, there she was to give her unconditional love to the dwindling numbers of teenagers who found an interest in the Order of DeMolay.

Beaver Chapter finally faded away. The Chapter’s porch book quietly states it held its last meeting in early 2002, the bulk of those signing were in their early 20s and few new members had joined in a number of years.

There became less and less of DeMolay for Auntie Grace’s boundless moral support, fewer and fewer boys to hear her kind and thoughtful words. Finally, this year, there was one Chapter left in the whole province, with not even enough active members to fill all the offices.

But then something happened. I got a phone call.

We’ll skip my life story but suffice it to say I’m a Senior DeMolay who was connected with Beaver’s Advisory Council through parts of the 1980s and ‘90s. And I had assisted in re-starting another dormant Chapter during that time. That Chapter has ceased operating again, leaving behind a couple of guys who live in Beaver’s old territory.

One of them called me. He explained they wanted to start a Chapter in Vancouver and they asked their dad what to do, and their dad asked the head of the local Filipino-Masonic group what to do, and what to do was to call me. Calling me seems to be a solution to many problems in the Masonic world (even in the Filipino one, even though my family was originally from Scotland).

So, I agreed to help as best as I could, if they found enough guys to form a Chapter and if they knew of enough interested adults to act as Advisors.

And they did.

They spent the entire summer, once a week, drilling the prospective members in the cardinal virtues of DeMolay, the structure of the Order, what it expected of its members. While most teenaged boys are having fun over the summer, these guys were being tested on how much they knew about DeMolay and had to pass before being allowed to be initiated.

In the meantime, a couple of Senior DeMolays in my Lodge called around and, at too-close-to-the-last-minute, dredged up some of the guys who were members when they were in and cobbled together a very makeshift degree team. There was no practice, and some last-minute confusion (we had three Seventh Preceptors at one point) but the guys who used to drive me nuts as an Advisor 15 years ago walked in like they had never left and instinctively conferred the two degrees on ten young men (two others were sick and missed the ceremonies).

The young men received surprise news at their meeting this weekend that they have received permission to operate as a Chapter and Letters Temporary had been sent to the Executive Officer.

The first phone call, after confirming the date and the availability of a meeting place, went to Auntie Grace. For a number of years she was hoping someone, anyone, would re-form her adopted Chapter so she could again put on her banner and come and see more of the young men she considers her sons.

She’ll get a chance to meet her new sons at their institution and installation on November 7th.

Some day, maybe I’ll write the story of what DeMolay means to me and how it changed my life, a story that many others could no doubt write. But, for now, you’re getting a better story. One of a dear, sweet woman, and how a group of young men worked together to make her happy.