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Archives for June 2010

Masonic Expression Has Many Forms

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Masonic scholarship has come a long way.  With the tools, the media and the technology available today Freemasonry has evolved into a medium of communication that has heretofore never been seen in the past. Oh we had great Masonic writers, the Masters, many years ago.  Most of them are still widely read today – Mackey, Pike, Claudy, Pound, Newton, Denslow, Hall, Wilmshurst and others. Today a new crop of 21st century Masonic writers are plying their trade.

But the Masonic communication has blossomed into many other avenues of expression.  In addition to magazines and books now we have websites, blogs and Masonic radio with podcasts available.  We have videos, power point presentations and all the wonders that high-tech computer technology can bring us. And lest we be remiss let us not leave out the Masonic Internet Forum where those who are part of the Masonic intellectual aristocracy vent their spleen.

Yet the standard of “having arrived” in the medium of Masonic communication is still deemed to be the book by a small cadre of those who have authored a 300 page plus “work of art.”  If you haven’t devoted 5, 10, 15 years of research to open up a new slant with new discoveries on a Masonic subject, then you haven’t really attained the honor of being called a writer of any merit, according to this clique of Masonic scholarship. You can’t be an author unless you have written a book, say these protectors of Masonic purity.

And may God strike you down immediately if you dare express an opinion, especially one that criticizes other Masons and opens up debate.  Why then you are nothing more than a muckraking hack. So research papers are in but opinion essays and blogs are definitely out, the latter being a perversion of “true” scholarship.

This snobbish view prevailing in Masonry today has led to boycotts, ostracizing non conformers and ill feelings between the antients and the moderns in Masonic communication.

There is one form of Masonic communication used by the Masters of yesteryear that is often overlooked by today’s creators of voluminous, heavily footnoted works of assiduous research.  It is a way of expressing Masonic feeling and /or opinion in few words while deeply stirring the soul and is the essence of creative writing.  The Masonic poet is a lost breed, he working his craft from a state of inspiration, almost an inner whispering of the word gleaned from prodigious meditation rather than in a hundred works of cross reference in ten or more different libraries.

So stands tall Ezekiel Bey, a Prince Hall Masonic Poet who destroys one big myth with every poem he writes, that there is little scholarship in the Prince Hall ranks and even fewer who publish anything. Bey is a Phylaxis Society researcher and Fellow , 2nd Vice President of the Council of Representatives, an authority on Bogus Masonry, who has written a book and many a research paper, yet he really shines when it comes to Masonic poetry. He epitomizes to me the complete Masonic writer and communicator, one who has mastered many realms of Masonic communication while refusing to turn up his nose at any means of expression.

The Hour Glass, African American Freemasonry In The State Of New York
Ezekiel M. Bey

STANDING IN THE CENTER
OF THE CIRCLE
By Ezekiel M. Bey

As the earth wind blows, in a chaotic mist
making whirls of dust, from the air it twist.
Hurricane and lightening, darkening the sky
heavy clouds are made, rain become plumb-lines

Horizontal rivers, as a level sits
though the waves make angles, as the currents kick.
Nature makes designs, from what the Master draws
tessellated borders on the Adept’s Floor.

Mountainous terrain, how the rocks are cut
shaped and fashioned cleverly, like a cliff that tucks
beautiful the scene, when the view is wide
when the eye is open, a creating mind.

Beautiful the woman, in her natural state
to be protected by him, he becomes her gate.
To embrace her spirit, to admire her soul
to complete her oneness, is her vital goal

Now can you imagine, counting all the stars
counting every vein, on a single palm,
counting every atom, in a single cell,
counting every angel, those from heaven fell

Can you see the limits where there are no bounds?
can you break the speed, of a single sound?
As a circle’s infinite, there’s one place to enter
all of this is possible, standing in the center.

MASONRY ON THE INSIDE
By Ezekiel M. Bey

Masonry prepares us, for the inner man
Masonry assists us, helps us understand
Masonry’s the spirit what we are inside
Masonry’s the knowledge of the inner eye
All of us have entered through the inner door

Thrice a voice had spoken, was it all your choice
With all faith and confidence we confirmed with “yea”
It was all a wonder, at high noon’s mid-day
As the apprentice learned, that the truth tells all

As he build on bricks, soon became a fellow
He perfected arts, from the Master’s lead
A true Master rose from a grip of needs
Oh those ruffians ran, from desperation’s call

One by one it happened, yes they had to fall
Solomon the wise, or Solomon the fool
You are no KING Solomon breaking all the rules
Oh the power of greed, a destructive path.

You can rule with iron, don’t ignore the craft
It does not take much to connect the dots
You can switch positions to reveal your plot
Some have said the winner, just gave birth to lose
Those you chose the loser will rise up to rule

God has said the first, shall indeed be last
And the last be first of the greener grass.
So the hour glass changed, from the upper chamber
Ending sands of time, to the lower nature
Till the last grain falls, No more sun dial’s tick

Till the clock’s last second, till the last laid brick.
So you wonder why, why I haven’t fell.
Made of the best timber, of the strongest cell.
Its because of Faith, it’s because of Mercy.
Its because of Grace, it’s because God RAISED ME!

Vae Victis-Woe to the Vanquished Sun

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Vae Victis-Woe to the Vanquished Sun

Osiris, the beaten and dismembered sun god of Egypt,husband and sister to Isis, father of Horus, floats nightly in dark tabernacles on the Nile and Egyptian Lakes until morning comes to renew and restore his place in the sky.

Aten, the eye of heaven, the solar disc of the heavens, both the masculine and feminine aspect of creation, whose rays descend and connect us with the divine.

Helios, the handsome chariot driver, circling the earth in daily passage crowned with your shining aureole, and pulled by your fiery steeds.

Sol Invictus, whose Roman feast day was celebrated on December 25th as the contriver of light, the august conquering sun.

“In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”—Psalm 19:4-6.

Saint Johns the Baptist Day, the summer solstice, 2010.

Take a moment today to look up at the vanquished son. This day in the year marks the longest day of our solar cycle, and consequently, the day in which our ever shining sun prevails over the tide of darkness, steadily losing ground to the night.

This is a feast day, a day for brothers who have been long absent form lodge to return and partake in a festival of remembrance for those brothers still absent and those who have traveled on to the great architect.

The celebration is also a time to reflect on the Holy Saint John’s as they pertain to the balance of zeal and wisdom. Passion untempered is like an inferno untended to regulate its heat which burns and destroys rather than to shape the elements, which is the lesson. Saint john the Baptist, the sign of alchemical water is the spiritual and emotional love, the fuel of our passion, which we celebrate on this summer solstice day.

Fittingly, the alchemical symbol of water is a traditional symbol of emotion and intuition, again, sources of our passion, and interestingly, its Archangel equilivent is the angel Gabriel, the messanger of God.

So, I raise a cannon to you brothers, both near and far, and salute you on this Summer Solstice and say woe, vae victis – woe to the vanquished sun, let not our passion for our fraternity leave us in the months ahead until once again, the light vanquishes the darkness.

Invictus
William Ernest Henley – 1875

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The Repression of Freemasonry in Spain

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If you happen to be near the Iberian Peninsula, this sounds like an excellent event to attend.

From the Gibraltar Chronicle (from the Wayback Archive)…

Talks on the history of Freemasonry in Spain will be held at the John Mackintosh Hall on 28th June at 7pm. The talks will be delivered by Professor Dr. Jose Antonio Ferrer Benimeli and Professor Dr. Juan Jose Morales Ruiz. They are experts on the history of Freemasonry in Spain. Professor Ferrer Benimeli and Professor Morales Ruiz are not Freemasons.

Prior to his retirement, Jose Antonio Ferrer Benimeli was professor of Contemporary History at the Universidad de Zaragoza. Professor Ferrer Benimeli is an internationally renowned authority on the history of Freemasonry, especially that of Spain and Latin America. He has participated in some 300 international conferences and has delivered over 500 talks in Europe and America. Professor Ferrer Benimeli is the founder member of the ‘Centro de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería Española’ and was its president from 1983 to 2009. At present, he is honorary president. He was also vice-president of the ‘Centro de Estudios del Siglo XVIII Español’ for a period of ten years. Professor Ferrer Benimeli has published more than five hundred monographs and forty six books.

Professor Juan Jose Morales Ruiz received a doctorate in Information Science from the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. He also has a Degree in journalism from the School of Journalism in Madrid. Professor Morales Ruiz currently works at the ‘Centro de Estudios Históricos’ of the Universidad de Zaragoza, where his research includes the history of Freemasonry in Spain. Professor Morales Ruiz is the author of a number of books and research papers on the subject of Spanish Freemasonry, with a particular emphasis on its role during the Spanish Civil War and its subsequent suppression under the regime of Francisco Franco.

Professor Ferrer Benimeli will talk on ‘La Historia de la Masonería Española’ and Professor Morales Ruiz will talk on ‘La represión de los masones durante la Guerra Civil (1936-1939), Franco y la Masonería’. The talks will be in Spanish. The general public is invited to attend. Admission is free. The talks promises to be of great interest to the general public as well as to Freemasons.

The talks are sponsored by the District Grand Lodge of Gibraltar, English Constitution.

About the Spanish Repression of Freemasonry – from Wikipedia:

It is claimed that the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera ordered the abolition of Freemasonry in Spain. In September 1928, one of the two Grand Lodges in Spain was closed and approximately two-hundred masons, most notably the Grand Master of the Grand Orient, were imprisoned for allegedly plotting against the government. It is certainly true that Masonic lodges provided a convenient forum for those critical of the dictator, regardless of their political persuasion.

Following the military coup of 1936, many Freemasons trapped in areas under Nationalist control were arrested and summarily killed, along with members of left wing parties and trade unionists. It was reported that Masons were shot, tortured and murdered by organized death squads in every town in Spain. At this time one of the most rabid opponents of Freemasonry, Father Jean Tusquets, began to work for the Nationalists with the task of exposing masons. One of his close associates was Franco’s personal chaplain, and over the next two years, these two men assembled a huge index of 80,000 suspected masons, even though there were little more than 5,000 masons in Spain. The results were horrific. Among other countless crimes, the lodge building in Cordoba was burnt, the masonic temple in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, was confiscated and transformed into the headquarters of the Falange, and another was shelled by artillery. In Salamanca thirty members of one lodge were shot, including a priest. Similar atrocities occurred across the country: fifteen masons were shot in Logrono, seventeen in Ceuta, thirty-three in Algeciras, and thirty in Valladolid, among them the Civil Governor. Few towns escaped the carnage as Freemasons in Lugo, Zamora, Cadiz and Granada were brutally rounded up and shot, and in Seville, the entire membership of several lodges were butchered. The slightest suspicion of being a mason was often enough to earn a place in a firing squad, and the blood-letting was so fierce that, reportedly, some masons were even hurled into working engines of steam trains. By 16 December 1937, according to the annual masonic assembly held in Madrid, all masons that had not escaped from the areas under nationalist control had been murdered.

After the victory of dictator General Francisco Franco, Freemasonry was officially outlawed in Spain on 2 March 1940. Being a mason was automatically punishable by a minimum jail term of 12 years. Masons of the 18º and above were deemed guilty of ‘Aggravated Circumstances’, and usually faced the death penalty.

According to Francoists, the Republican Regime which Franco overthrew had a strong Masonic presence. In reality Spanish Masons were present in all sectors of politics and the armed forces. At least four of the Generals who supported Franco’s rebellion were Masons, although many lodges contained fervent but generally conservative Republicans. Freemasonry was formally outlawed in the Law for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism. After Franco’s decree outlawing masonry, Franco’s supporters were given two months to resign from any lodge they might be a member of. Many masons chose to go into exile instead, including prominent monarchists who had whole-heartedly supported the Nationalist rebellion in 1936. The common components in Spanish Masonry seems to have been upper or middle class conservative liberalism and strong anti-clericism.

The Law for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism was not abrogated until 1963. References to a “Judeo-Masonic plot” are a standard component of Francoist speeches and propaganda and reveal the intense and paranoid obsession of the dictator with masonry. Franco produced at least 49 pseudonymous anti-masonic magazine articles and an anti-masonic book during his lifetime. According to Franco:

“The whole secret of the campaigns unleashed against Spain can be explained in two words: masonry and communism… we have to extirpate these two evils from our land.”

How Bill Gates redefines charity

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Charity has existed for as long as man has had enough to share.  Compassion is our basic drive to give for those less fortunate than ourselves.  Be it alm coins to the poor from the church in the 1500’s or Bill Gates giving 50 Billion dollar checks to foundations to give in his name.  The idea of what charity is has just been turned on its ear.

This is important because one of the more important elements of Freemasonry is its outlook towards Charity (faith and hope too).

How it came to be is likely a jumble of one time benefit societies, widows of workman, and an endearment towards mankind, especially as those of affluence looked towards those who were without.

It was an alms to the poor, the act of compassion, of love. Love in the sense of a divine love, not an expression of passion , rather a fraternal love. In a sense, the way the great Architect looks down upon you and I.

Over time, that Charitas, Charity, has evolved. Still the giving of alms, but instead of throwing gold coins to the masses, charity is now and endowment towards an institution. Think of the proverb that says instead of giving a man a fish, you teach him how to catch one.

Now, at the pinnacle of the pyramid of giving, Bill Gates has upped the anti. Rather than give his fortune to his children, instead he’s opted to give it back to the world.

Dust to dust, money to money….

But Gates with his friend and philanthropic colleague Warren Buffet are together asking other American Billionaires to donate half of their fortunes too.

It is an epic undertaking to imagine – so much accumulated wealth spread out to so many organizations. Gates and Buffett in asking other billionaires who make a pledge to do so publicly, with a letter explaining their decision.

“The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting a particular set of causes or organizations,” they explain in a written statement about the project.

With such monumental giving, it makes me wonder if at the end of the day, those that need the help most will receive it, or if the distribution of money will just go to make other rich.

An alternative might be something like a kiva.com giving micro loans to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world recipients to establish a business or materials to make an income.

Or, give it in a manner like Percy Ross who said of giving and the results of it

“He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes. . . . I’m having a ball, the time of my life.”

Why not give to those in need instead of funding new businesses to distribute the wealth?

But, Ross was considered gawdy and vulgar for his self promotion, and Gates,  rather than allow himself to be portrayed the happy vulgar giver, instead operates on the down low and letting others be the decision makers to how his money is spent.

Either way, charity has a new face in 2010 and it seems like Gates and the Billionaire Club are leading the way for giving.

With such epic giving as they do, is our lesser run of the mill giving any less valuable?

Sometimes people snap.

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I found it funny to find a flurry of blogs (here, here, and here too) making the proclamation that Congressman Bob Etheridge of North Carolina was a Freemason and somehow that was note-worthy in light of his recent outburst at the student journalist on the streets of Washington.

The references suggested that he was the present Grand Orator no less but I can’t seem to find any credible sources – the North Carolina Grand Lodge doesn’t list him as the G.O., so I think they were going on old info.

It does look like a Masonic membership reference was edited out of his Wikipedia page which still comes up in a Google search for Bob Etheridge Freemason.

If you haven’t seen the video, its been widely circulated. This is the unedited version.

I first heard about it  through a Facebook post, and then as now I wanted to see the unedited linear video, (which is what I published above) but in the curt and past society of story telling news, the footage is all we can go by, nothing more, nothing less. It reminded me of a Hemingway story, all you have is the story itself that starts where it starts and ends where it ends giving no context to the events themselves.

The original video was posted by DCCameraGuy, so Fox News is reporting, and the footage was for a “project” as the blurred faces in the footage say to the enraged Congressman. You can almost hear the crack as he starts to snap.

Etheridge has since apologized and given his mea culpa for what led up to that moment caught on camera. I buy it, but is it enough? Do you think he just snapped, or was this another attempt at a ‘gotcha media’ moment?  Should he face assault charges?  Should he remain in Congress?

And, whether or not Representative Etheridge is a Freemason, or not, has nothing to do with what happened in this video.

Dueling dogma.

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How is it the Catholic Church knows the nature of Freemasonry in a way more so than Freemasonry itself?

“Freemasonry considers all religions of the world as mere competitive attempts to know God, who remains unknowable. Consequently, to say that Christianity is the true religion would be unacceptable in Freemasonry,” the CBCP states, adding that the Masons promote relativism, meaning no one can claim to possess a truth in an absolute way, and deism or that man is no longer accountable to God and becomes the master of the world, so one cannot speak of divine providence or revelation.

This comes from a broader story in the Business World Weekender, out of Manila, Philippines, about the Clash of the two dogmas.

The Broader context of the story speaks to the recent rift between the Church and Freemasonry in the Philippines in the recent refusal to grant the late Quezon Governor Rafael Nantes, who because of his status as a Freemason and Born Again Christian, was denied a Catholic burial last May.

The events are singular and isolated, a Church official refusing to administer what he believed to a born-again Christian and a Mason who did not repent.

“Canon 1184 states, that Church funeral rites are to be denied to ‘notorious apostates, heretics and schismatics’ unless they showed some signs of repentance before death,” as reported and told by Bishop Emilio Marquez of Lucena to UCA News.

Any armchair scholar of Freemasonry is well aware of the divisions between the church, even up to as recent as Cardinal Ratzinger re-affirming the disdain towards the fraternity in Quaesitum est, approved by John Paul II in 1983.

Taking the edict several steps further, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines declared in 1990 that funeral rites will be denied to any Catholic who belonged to any Masonic association, unless there was some sign of repentance before death.

Is it worth making the argument against their position that: “Freemasonry considers all religions of the world as mere competitive attempts to know God, who remains unknowable” or does that sum up a good point of its outlook?

Does the absence of declaring a religion as absolute declare insist no one is, especially in a morally enlightened (and based) organization?

Anubis erected over Denver International Airport.

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The NWO is at it again, only this time, they have REALLY let the cat out of the bag.

Now that the Facebook/Freemason conspiracy has been let loose, the Death Reference Desk blog is reporting that Denver Airport, the NWO American Concentration camp, has divulged its true Egyptian/Luciferian agenda in the erection of a giant statue of Anubis at its main terminal.

You may remember that Denver Airport is the site of the Masonic Cornerstone so often attributed to the ground zero of the NWO takeover and the Children of the World Dream Peace murals by artist by Leo Tanguma. That’s not to forget Bluecifer, the demonic looking blue horse by artist Luis Jimenez and the gargoyle’s in the suit cases.

You can watch an interesting video on the topics below.

The REALITY is that the statue is for an upcoming King Tut exhibit at the Denver art museum. Really.

If your local and you go, send us a postcard.

Hope, short supply, high demand.

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Hope is something in high demand but short supply these days.

With the ever flowing pipe of oil in the gulf getting ready to blanket the Gulf states shore lines (not to mention trail up the Atlantic coast on the currents), to the ever ailing U.S. job market that seems to have the illusion of getting better, only be recounted the next day to reveal that it really is lower than expected. Now it seems, even the Golden Arches of McDonalds has a titanium in the consumables problem, just one more thing to hope for the best but plan for the worst.

This is defintely a challenging time to be in, no matter where on the spectrum you fall. If you own a business sales are down, if your working the pink slip looms, and if your unemployed like the other 10% of your adult neighbors (numbers unadjusted for region) prospects look grim.

So where do you find Hope?

Pandora; Jules Joseph Lefebvre, 1882

In the book I put to press a month or so ago, Masonic Traveler, I delve that question from a philosophical angle. Hope springing from the metaphorical box of Pandora, a demon if you will, sent to antagonize man. The reverse of that idea is that hope was really a foil to the nefarious evil from Pandora’s Box, and was instead a light to mankind. Hope, it seemed had the ability to inspire mankind to see beyond his present state, to imagine a better tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.

As eloquent as that parable of antiquity was, its hard to translate to our real day to day life. We can say we have hope, but in our darkest of recesses, its easy to get lost in the maze of our doubts, fears, and hang-ups.

I hope that Obama and BP fix the problem in the Gulf, but what if….

I hope that the Toxic Shrek glass from McDonald’s is safe, but what about…

Not giving away the parallels I constructed in the book, I did stumble onto a great little article on WikiHow about how to find our hope and nurture it back so that it has a place again to inspire us again.  It was a good little refresher for me to help find my feet.

It helped me put things into perspective, and I Hope it will for you too.