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Answer To Puzzler #1 and the Presentation Of Puzzler #2

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Here is the answer to the previous puzzler.

The Seven Liberal Arts were divided into the Trivium (“the three roads”) and the Quadrivium (“the four roads”).

The Trivium (Masonically alludes to the three Principal Moral Virtues)  and consists of:

  • Grammar–Teaches a man the ability to speak and write truly
  • Rhetoric— Teaches a man to speak fairly and in soft terms
  • Logic— Teaches a man to discern the truth from falsehoods

The Quadrivium (Masonically alludes to the Four Cardinal Virtues) and consists of:

  • Arithmetic — Teaches a man to reckon and count all manner of numbers
  • Geometry — Teaches a man the mete and measure of the Earth and all other things (remember G is also for God,
  • Music, Harmonics, or Tuning Theory — Studying numbers in time
  • Astronomy or Cosmology — Studying number in space and time (planetary movements)

These seven roads are supposed to lead to Truth and Knowledge (Illumination or More light in masonry). These ideas were first introduced in the FC degree during your journey up a flight of winding stairs.

The significance of the this can be found by thinking about all of the symbolism and allegory found in the FC degree. We are taught that when we come to the number seven, we are almost overwhelmed with the many facts associated with it.  The number seven was said to be ‘perfect’ because it contained the numbers 3 and 4 and was itself indivisible and could not be created by multiplication.  This gave it the name of the virgin number.  Originally, there were seven years to an apprenticeship, there were seven planets known to man of the middle ages (organization period of modern Freemasonry), and there are seven days in a week of which the 7th is the Sabbath and Solomon’s temple was said to have been built in seven years.  Jericho was encircled seven times by seven priests, and these seven liberal arts and sciences, known as the trivium and quadrivium, were thought to contain the total sum of all human knowledge.

Seven represents symbolically the combination of the Trinity and four cardinal virtues (Justice, Temperance, Fortitude and Prudence), it is the number of the basic musical notes, of colors and of the spheres.  Seven is related to perfection, to religious truth and also with knowledge.  It is hard to find a more astounding mass of facts associated with a number until we observe that three and five are similar. Masonically, we are reminded that a Lodge needs seven officers to open the Lodge and those seven steps of the staircase reminding us of the liberal arts and sciences.  Jacob’s ladder is usually shown with seven rungs of which 3 are considered most exemplary for masons (Faith, Hope and Charity) and the other four rungs are concerned with four cardinal virtues(Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence) and the perfect points of our interests (Manual, Guttural, Pectoral, Pedal) [you guys match the proper virtue with the right point].  While then there also usually seven small stars clustered together on the WM jewel, which is significant, in that they are repeated as a symbol at least three times within our Lodges and give us much to think about. What else can you find that relates to this topic? For Biblical reference see- 1 Cor 13:13 (Three moral virtues)

 

Puzzle 2

As Masons, we are often called to travel in “foreign lands”. In order to do this “work” effectively, we should also study foreign languages. This puzzler comes from a foreign land and represents something that should be intimately familiar to all of us. Can anyone tell me what Acheiropoietos means, where it comes from (which “land” or language), how does it relate to masonry and finally what degree you first encountered this concept?

KEY WORD: “Acheiropoietos”

Answer to Puzzle 2

Masonic Trivia: Puzzle Number One

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My Lodge, Pride of Mt. Pisgah #135, MWPHGLTX, is a small, low budget Lodge operating in simple surroundings.  But don’t let that fool you. Serious and deep study of Masonry is going on among its members. Not only does Mt. Pisgah spend a great deal of time and effort in instructing its candidates but it also offers much in the way of continuing education for Master Masons, even those who have been Masons for many years.

Pride of Mt. Pisgah has many learned members who contribute to that education and understanding of Masonry.  One who dedicates himself to that purpose is Bro. Dr. Audra Robinson, PM.  It is he who has been running a Puzzler/Quiz for our members.

Now I bring that Puzzler/Quiz to a greater audience. Please feel free to offer some answers to what is asked in the comments section. Before researching the question ask yourself if you have any hint to what is being asked before looking it up.  Bro. Dr. Robinson is not only looking for word definitions but also themes.  What is the over all scenario of how certain words are used, what is their context and what does this all have to do with Masonry?

In the first Question:

What does trivium and quadrivium mean?

Some things to think about: what do they mean, where did you first encountered them, how are they symbolized and why are the divided that way.  Is there any biblical references to them?

KEY WORD: “trivium and quadrivium”

Answer to Puzzle 1

An 86 Year Old Book Review

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The Autobiography of Mark Twain aka Samuel ClemensLooking for something to read, I went back into my library and pulled out a copy of The Autobiography of Mark Twain which I have had since High School.

I’ve always been an admirer of Samuel Clemens’ work, but I have to admit I balked at taking his autobiography seriously years ago. This time though, I was in the proper frame of mind and wanted to know more about the renowned author and humorist, not so much about the facts and history of his life, but more about his perspective of the times. I wasn’t disappointed.

The book was originally published in 1924 (fourteen years after Twain’s death) and basically consists of sketches describing his life spanning the years from 1835 to 1910, which is known as a very rich period of American history. He describes life prior to the Civil War, his involvement during the war, and the expansion west. I found his narratives of life in the Midwest, both as a child and an adult, particularly colorful and interesting. Clemens did a remarkable job describing life as a boy living on a farm. His description of the foods of the period made me hungry and I could vividly visualize the school he attended and life on the farm.

I’m afraid African-Americans will not be too happy with the book as Twain uses the “N” word liberally, but not maliciously. It was just the way people talked back then. There was no ulterior motive for using the word, nor venom in his language, it was simply a snapshot of the times. Nonetheless, African-Americans may call for the book to be banned from schools if they read it.

As a writer, I found his rich vocabulary, sentence structure, and punctuation particularly interesting. It was much different than what I am used to in the 21st century. Unlike today where we typically try to gorge ourselves on a novel as expeditiously as possible, Twain’s style forces the reader to slow down and savor each sentence. You can tell that it was written by a craftsman intimate with the English language.

His humor is also different. Instead of today’s “in your face” approach to comedy, Twain mischievously takes the reader down an unknown path where he inevitably springs a humorous conclusion on you. It is not backslapping funny, just elegant humor very tastefully presented. His anecdotes are always designed to teach a lesson and cause a chuckle in the process.

I wanted to read his autobiography, not so much to learn about his family history, which he volunteered reluctantly, but more to understand his perspective of the times which I found was essentially no different today than 100 years ago.

He made a few comments that particularly caught my attention; the first was the cycle of life, to wit:

A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other. Age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; shames and humiliations bring down their prides and their vanities. Those they love are taken from them and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The burden of pain, care, misery, grows heavier year by year. At length ambition is dead; pride is dead; vanity is dead; longing for release in their place. It comes at last – and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness; will lament them a day and forget them forever. Then another myriad takes their place and copies all they did and goes along the same profitless road and vanishes as they vanished – to make room for another and another and a million other myriads to follow the same arid path through the same desert and accomplish what the first myriad and all the myriads that came after it accomplished – nothing!

The second observation that caught my attention was his comments regarding success. In the book, he comments on the many bad business deals he had made in his lifetime which cost him dearly. He also missed an opportunity to invest in Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention, the telephone. However, an acquaintance of Twain’s invested $5,000 in the company and was paid back many times over thereby causing the writer to observe:

It is strange the way the ignorant and inexperienced so often and so undeservedly succeed when the informed and the experienced fail.

Concerning heroes:

Our heroes are the men who do things which we recognize with regret and sometimes with secret shame that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be someone else. If everybody was satisfied with himself there would be no heroes.

On writing, which I wholeheartedly agree:

…when the tank runs dry you’ve only to leave it alone and it will fill up again in time, while you are asleep – also while you are at work at other things and are quite unaware that this unconscious and profitable cerebration is going on.

Although Clemens was known to be a Mason (Polar Star Lodge No. 79, St. Louis, MO) there was no direct mention of his affiliation with the fraternity in the book. However, there were a couple of passages that suggested Masonic influence (I believe it was “wrong, cheat or defraud” and something else along those lines). The only other Masonic connection was Clemens’ meeting with Bro. Rudyard Kipling (Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782. E.C., Lahore, India, and one of the original forty Fellows of the Philalethes Society). Clemens spoke at length of his meeting with Bro. Kipling while the latter was but a young 24 year old visiting the United States for the first time. In his travels, he made it a point to look up Clemens where he was working in Elmira, New York.

Although they only met for a couple of hours, Kipling impressed Clemens by his breadth of knowledge, causing Twain to write:

He is a stranger to me but he is a most remarkable man – and I am the other one. Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known and I know the rest.

Samuel Clemens was a past master of the anecdote. His autobiography was assembled more as a collection of such stories as opposed to a flowing history. I appreciated his cogent comments regarding the world of the 1800’s. His ability to paint a picture with words and tell a story was like taking a ride on a time machine. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the trip, but I’m not sure today’s younger readers would feel likewise as his stories are less about the complexities of life and more about the simple truths of living it.

Most book reviews are printed either just prior to publication or shortly thereafter. I apologize for the slight delay.

Keep the Faith!

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

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http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

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Copyright © 2010 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

Glenn Beck – The Illuminati is going to off him…

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Chris Hodapp over on Freemasons for Dummies does a terrific job of capturing the exchange of Glenn Beck and David Barton, from the Wallbuilders ministry organization, on the Fox News Channel in an exchange over the Founding Fathers and Freemasonry.

As Br. Chris captures the exchange perfectly, there seemed to be more misinformation given than factual info.  See for yourself in this clip from the program.

I won’t get into the facts of the program, but as discussed by Barton such as Washington’s sincerity in Masonry, his lodge activity, or the difference between American and European Masonry at the time.  One document I will point you towards is The Origin of Freemasonry written by a contemporary of Washington, one amongst the pantheon of founding fathers, Thomas Paine.  I’m sure Barton may glean much from this short work.

faith_hope_charityAs for Beck, if you haven’t’ paid close attention to his program lately, he has laid a foundation of the Founding Fathers atop the gestalt of Faith, Hope, and Charity even promoting it so far as to create his own university of the triumvirate as the great virtues.  Samuel Adams as Faith, George Washington as Hope, and Franklin as Charity which unmistakably two of the three were prominent Freemasons, one of whom was a Grand Master of Freemasons in Pennsylvania in 1734.

But, to Beck, the principals of Faith, hope, and Charity (as seen on these products) are the principals that, he says, are Christian principals which Beck has tied to American Principals and supports with the edifice of the founding fathers.  He’s developed it to a point that he’s formed his own Beck University to impart them.  While the ideas behind these great social virtues are rightly extolled, what Beck missed is that Faith, Hope, and Charity were ideas adopted into Freemasonry as three tenants by which the Mason were to strive for, but not I would argue, in the way Beck suggests.

Faith – a faith in the divine, the Great Architect, the primitive idea of deity that all men can agree, founded on the Golden Rule, the principal of Do unto others as you would have done to you.

Hope – As an idea that stretches into antiquity as an evil released from Pandora’s Box which entered the world to torment man.

Charity – Is a simple idea that translates to the agape styled love, a fraternal brotherly love towards mankind, which facilitates the other two.

These are three subjects I cover in much greater detail in the book Masonic Traveler.

So, if Beck and Barton won’t brush up on their Masonic history maybe you can help let him know and send him an email to me@glennbeck.com with your thoughts about it.

Loss Of Tax Exempt Status Would Hurt American Freemasonry

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The United States is still in the middle of the longest and deepest recession since the Depression of 1929. As unemployment seems to be stuck at close to 10% government tax revenues are down everywhere. The Federal government has borrowed some serious money from China.  Some state governments are in serious trouble, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. California has, at times, issued I.O.U.’s in lieu of payment.

It is times like these that the government looks around for creative ways to finance itself. It cannot forever continue to borrow money, for lenders get nervous when the debt is substantial. It can come up with additional taxes, perhaps hidden so they are less noticeable if it is willing to endure the ire of American taxpayers.  Or government can close “loopholes” which translates into taking back discounts, privileges and exemptions.

As a member of a small Lodge that is filing for 501©3 tax status I have to wonder what would happen to American Freemasonry if the government removed all charitable and nonprofit status from it? No more 501©3 or other like exemptions, no more nonprofit status, no more special treatment.  Of course if this were undertaken Freemasonry would not be the only target.  Other like groups would suffer the same consequences as well as perhaps houses of worship.

If you think that is a far fetched idea that would never happen, then you need to know what has just happened to New Zealand Masons. After a year long battle New Zealand Freemasonry has given up fighting the government over the loss of its tax exempt status which it has held continuously since 1933.

Freemasons New Zealand appealed to the High Court last month, arguing that the Grand Lodge’s primary activities were “beneficial to the community” and therefore charitable.

As well as directly charitable activities such as university scholarships (which the commission conceded were charitable), the lodge also teaches public speaking and lessons on ethics to its members, which it argued should also be considered charitable.

Acting for the Crown, Tania Warburton argued that many of the activities of the Grand Lodge were primarily for the benefit of its members, not the entire community. She said its membership, limited to men over the age of 21 who reached the rank of master mason, was too exclusive for a charity.

Judge Simon France rejected the Freemasons’ appeal. He concluded that the activities of the Grand Lodge, and freemasonry in general, “do not benefit the public other than indirectly and intangibly by seeking to produce members who are better citizens”.

Laurence Milton, the grand secretary for Freemasons New Zealand, said the decision meant the Grand Lodge would have to apply for separate charitable status for its Fund of Benevolence, which did most of its charitable work.

The administration and other activities of the Grand Lodge would now be subject to tax.

You can read the rest of that story here.

I can see it know.  A high level prosecutor brings American Freemasons into court and charges them with primarily benefiting their own members.  Furthermore he or she charges that most of these benefits do not apply to children or women.

Once the door is opened for the removal of tax exempt, nonprofit status from American Freemasonry it might also open the door for the filing of discrimination and Civil Rights suits because membership is only available to men.  Now wouldn’t that be a bloody awful mess?

Occult Forces at the Heart of Freemasonry

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Occult Forces at the heart of Freemasonry is an English translation of the film titled Forces Occultes – Au Coeur De La Franc-Maconnerie.

The film’s full title is Occult Forces – The mysteries of Freemasonry and was released in French theaters in 1943.

None of whats in this video could possibly be real, its French Vichy propaganda, right?

IMDB has a great review on the film.

The Plot, from Wikipedia – recounts the life of a young député who joins the Freemasons in order to relaunch his career. He thus learns of how the Freemasons are conspiring with the Jews to encourage France into a war against Germany.

The history of the film, also from Wikipedia:

The film was commissioned in 1942 by the Propaganda Abteilung, a delegation of Nazi Germany’s propaganda ministry within occupied France by the ex-Mason Mamy. It virulently denounces Freemasonry, parliamentarianism and Jews as part of Vichy’s propaganda drive against them and seeks to prove a Jewish-Masonic plot. On France’s liberation its writer Jean Marquès-Rivière, its producer Robert Muzard and its direction Jean Mamy were purged for collaboration with the enemy. On 25 November 1945, Muzard was condemned to 3 years in prison and Marquès-Rivière was condemned in his absence (he had gone into self-imposed exile) to death and degradation. Mamy had also been a journalist on L’Appel under Pierre Constantini (leader of the Ligue française d’épuration, d’entraide sociale et de collaboration européenne) and on the collaborationist journal Au pilori, and was thus condemned to death and executed at the fortress of Montrouge on 29 March 1949.

Sharpen up your French if you want to get something from the dialog, otherwise, follow along with the visuals and you’ll get a good idea of whats going on.

From the Google Video posting:

In 1943, the film “Forces occult” spell on the screens. The scenario this means fifty-minute film was directed by two former brother Jean Marques-Riviere and Jean Mamy (under the pseudonym Paul Rich). This film shows some aspects of the usual dark Freemasonry had its status as a secret society. The filmmakers will be at the end of the war and the Vichy regime were tried and convicted, but Marques-Riviere happens to escape the vengeance of the allies. He will be sentenced to death in absentia.

Directed by Jean Mamy, who was a a French actor, producer, film, theater director, screenwriter and journalist, and more notably Vichy regime collaborator. He was, a Venerable [Master] between 1931 and 1939 of the Renan lodge of the Grand Orient de France, until he parted ways. This film, Forces Occultes, was his last.  The film was written by Jean Marques-Riviere who was a French writer and journalist.

Want to find out more about the film?  The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre is hosting its twelfth annual conference, the theme of which this year is ‘Anti-Masonry’ which will also host a screening fo the film.

The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre
2010 Conference – Anti-Masonry,
6 Canonbury Place, London N1 2NQ
October 30 and 31, 2010
Tickets to which are available now for are £140 which includes the film and Saturday dinner.

Canonbury Masonic Research Centre was founded in October 1998 and began work in December the same year. Its purpose is the study of western esotericism and related fields, in particular that of Freemasonry and the traditions linked to it. Our eventual aim is the development of an academic programme.

Why Did You Join

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I had the pleasure to meet a elderly gentleman today who was a neighbor of a family member of mine. He was a very polite fellow, with a good measure of mirth and authority, tempered only by a touch difficulty to hear. In the conversation he dropped that he was 78, but you’d never guess it with the way he handled himself in his yard work.

The conversation started, after a quick exchange of pleasantries, with the innocent question to me of “Who was the Mason?” He had obviously noticed the bold square and compass on the back of my car, and it had intrigued him enough to ask about it.

I replied to him with the short reply that “I was so taken”, something any in the know brother should key in to, but I realized in just a few seconds that he wasn’t so taken, and I replied the it was me, with the elevator speech prepping to roll off my tongue, only to have him interrupt me.

“My dad was a Mason” he said with a fond gleam in his eye. “Yeah, he was a 22nd, or 32nd or something…” “I used to know the handshakes, something he told me never to throw out there, or someone would really lay into me”. I smiled to myself as he said it.

“Yeah, I have his Bible inside”.

“A Blue Masonic Bible?” I asked.

“Yeah, a big one, it was his grand-dads before him, and so on…” he trailed off, wistful again.

“I have all his things from the Masons, I’ve wanted to put into a shadow box for years” he said with a near tone of excitement. “His rings, pins, books, and lots of papers” again with a fond look in his eye.

“He had showed me all of it when I was 5, and he treated it with such reverence.” I could tell he was looking back in time. “I remember it like it was yesterday….” His yesterday trailed off for a few seconds, which I jumped on the memory to ask the question looming over us like a tree.

“So how come you never joined?” It felt like a lead weight on a line being thrown at his feet, but I had to ask.

“Oh, he dropped hints several times over the years, even inviting me to join, but I never took him up on it.” He said sounding almost regretful of the missed opportunities of the path that could of been. “I liked to ride motorcycles and hung with a rough crowd, not the kinds that were the Masons I knew. The Masons were all really good guys, and I didn’t think they would like me hanging with the crowds I ran with.”

“Its funny you should say that,” I said, “there are a lot of guys in the fraternity, including those that have bike clubs.”

“Oh I know, it just wasn’t in my cards to do it I suppose, but I have the fondest memories of my dad being in it.” he trailed off, and turned the conversation to the yard work and other mundane aspects of life.

Besides the obvious pleasure at the conversation, the exchange came to me at a time when I was asking the Great Architect some challenging questions: about life, about the fraternity, and my place in it, and its future. I know the last thing on the list is something bigger than any one person can answer, but its always been a burning question for me as I consider it in the face of my sons who I hope to one day join its ranks.

But what the conversation left me to think about, as I resumed the path of the rest of my day, was rather than simply consider why others would want to join, to take a few minutes and ask myself why did I join? Why did I become a Freemason and did it live up to those expectations? What could I do to make it that way?  I’ve personalized it of course, but its a question we can all ask of ourselves.  Why did I join Freemasonry?

The man who I had the conversation with didn’t join for what ever reasons, but his father did, and his father’s father did, and they probably had a hope that this, now elderly, gentleman would too.  But, he didn’t for what ever reasons he had at the time.  His progenitors are not here to ask why they joined, but we can ask ourselves that question.

So why did you decide to join?

5 Famous (or Infamous) Freemasons

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Masons like to acknowledge its notable membership.

We are constantly reminded of the super stars of Famous Freemasons which include George Washington, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, John Wayne, and Buzz Aldrin just to name a few.  But, Freemasonry stretches much deeper into the soil of Americana and besides the heavy-weights there are many less well known brothers; the un-sung Famous or infamous members of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity.

Before we meet these distant Masonic relatives, we need to remind ourselves that it was not their gentle association with the fraternity that predicated their particular place in history.  No, rather that is the product of their serendipity, morals and ethics, their natural skills and talent, their inspirational calling, and personal character.  The man makes the history, not his affiliations. What ever their place in history, their presence still represents an aspect of our many fraternal facets – for better or for worse.

Witness to history Abraham Zapruder

The Russian born American manufacturer of women’s clothing was the only person to document the horrific assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza, in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 which has since come to be the well known as the Zapruder Film.

At the age of 15 Zapruder’s Russian-Jewish family immigrated to the US leaving a 1920’s Civil War torn Russia.  Having only four years of formal education, Zapruder settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he studied English and worked as a pattern maker.  He later moved to Dallas in 1941 eventually founding a clothing manufacturing company, whose offices were directly across the street from the Texas Book Depository.

Saying of the event he bore witness to in a WFAA Dallas/Fort Worth television interview in 1963:

I got out in, uh, about a half-hour earlier to get a good spot to shoot some pictures. And I found a spot, one of these concrete blocks they have down near that park, near the underpass. And I got on top there, there was another girl from my office, she was right behind me. And as I was shooting, as the President was coming down from Houston Street making his turn, it was about a half-way down there, I heard a shot, and he slumped to the side, like this. Then I heard another shot or two, I couldn’t say it was one or two, and I saw his head practically open up [places fingers of right hand to right side of head in a narrow cone, over his right ear], all blood and everything, and I kept on shooting. That’s about all, I’m just sick, I can’t…

Zapruder passed in 1970 in Dallas.

Congressmen Charles Rangel

The prominent Democrat, and former chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee, has been a United States House of Representatives member since 1971, representing the Fifteenth Congressional District of New York, and is the most senior member of that state’s congressional delegation. He is the founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and a decorated Bronze Star and Purple Heart veteran of the Korean War.

Born and raised in Harlem, he entered the service of the Army where he led a group of soldiers out of a deadly Chinese Army encirclement during the Battle of Kunu-ri in 1950.  Following the war, he graduated from New York University in 1957 and St. John’s University School of Law in 1960, working as a private lawyer, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and legal counsel during the early-mid 1960s. He later served two terms in the New York State Assembly from 1967 to 1970, and then was elected to the House of Representatives.

In recent years Rangel was faced with a series of allegations of ethics violations which culminated in July, 2010, where Rangel was charged with 13 counts of violating House rules and federal laws, to which he will face a formal trial in the House to determine his fate.

Congressman Charles Rangel is a member of Joppa Lodge No. 55, in New York

Entrepreneur James Cash Penney a.k.a- J.C. Penney

Born September 16, 1875, J.C. Penney was an entrepreneur who founded the J.C. Penney’s stores in 1902 after working for four years in a small chain called the Golden Rule stores.  With an offer of partnership, Penney invested $2000 and opened a store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, with two additional stores in 1907, when be bought out his interest partnership in all three stores.  By 1920, Penney had opened 120 stores and by 1929 he had opened 1400.  In 1940, in a visit to a Des Moines, Iowa, store where he trained a Sam Walton on how to wrap packages, the founder of Wal-Mart.

With the onset of the Great Depression, Penney was beset by financial ruin but met store expenses by borrowing against his life-insurance policies.  He recovered from the financial setbacks but at the expense of his health, to give generously to a number of charities, eventually founding the James C. Penny foundation in 1954, later to be merged into the Oakland, California based Common Counsel Foundation, which partners with families and individual donors to expand philanthropic resources for progressive social movements.

Penney received his degrees in Wasatch Lodge No. 1, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 28, May 19, and June 2, 1911. Buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York Penney passed February 12, 1971.

Inventor John Gorrie

This little known father of modern Air Conditioning was a man of many talents, including physician, scientist, inventor, and humanitarian, and the inventor of refrigeration, is also a man who suffered for what he believed in.

Born October 3, 1803 on the isle of Nevis in the Caribbean Sea, John Gorrie grew up in South Carolina, moving to the port city of Apalachicola in Florida in 1833.  Being very active in his community, he was resident physician at two hospitals, and at various times a council member, Postmaster, President of the Pensacola’s Apalachicola Branch Bank, founding vestrymen of Trinity Episcopal Church, and served on the founding committee of the Masonic Lodge in 1835, where he was appointed secretary pro-tem on December 28, 1835, later serving as treasurer.

Of his invention, following a Malaria epidemic in 1841, Gorrie resigned from all his civic responsibilities, lowered his patient load, and dedicated his time to the illness.  Malaria, it was speculated, was from the rapid decomposition of vegetation and the hot humid air which created a poisonous gas.  Gorrie, in addressing these issues, surmised that by filling in the low lying areas and draining swamps would be a way to combat the problem.  His second prong to the cure was to develop a means to control his patient’s body temperature and the humidity in their rooms by the introduction of hanging ice above the sick beds.air-conditioner

Ice at that time came by boat from northern lakes which were both inconvenient and expensive.  To tackle the problem, Gorrie invented a machine in 1845 to cool air sufficiently to create ice, a patient to which was granted him in 1851.  His device (a model of which is on display in Gorrie museum) compressed air in a chamber which then released it to expand rapidly, causing it to absorb the heat from water that surrounded the chamber drawing enough heat away from the water to bring the water temperature down below freezing creating ice.

Despite the significance of his development Gorrie never made a penny from his invention.  Instead he and his invention were denounced by Northern Newspapers and he was ridiculed his efforts. This was followed by a strong lobby against him by northern ice suppliers, who monopolized the ice market and feared lost profits. Gorrie fell into financial ruin when he was sued for unpaid debts and the unexpected passing of his only investor having never provided the funds to commercialize the invention.

Falling into a nervous breakdown, Gorrie passed at the age of 54 on June 16, 1855.  Modern air conditioning is still based largely on the principals discovered by Gorrie today, and was not re-discovered until 1902 by Willis Haviland Carrier.

Programmer Steve Wozniak

Born August 11, 1950, this co-founder of Apple Computer Inc, is probably not the paragon of why to be a Freemason, but his work outside of the fraternity is every bit reason to take note of his career and accomplishments.

On the heels of selling off his and Steve Jobs possessions, the two collaborated to raise $1,300 to assemble the prototypes of what would become the Apple computer.

Formed in 1976, Apple computer went public in 1980 and made both Jobs and Wozniak multimillionaires.  After 12 year of founding his electronic empire and full-time employment with Apple, he ended his career on February 6, 1987 though he still receives a paycheck, and is a shareholder to the company.

Wozniak has since gone on to write his autobiography iWoz, and found several companies in and around electronics and technology.

Describing his impetus for joining the Freemasons, Wozniak says he joined to be able to spend more time with his, then, wife Alice (married 1976–divorced 1980).

From his book iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It, Wozniak says about his experience with the Fraternity:

I’m not like the other people who are Freemasons.  My personality is very, very unlike theirs.  To get in, you have to say all this stuff about God, the Bible, words that sound a bit like they come from the Constitution, and none of this ritual stuff is the way I think, you know?  But I did it, and I did it well.  If I’m going to do something, I always try to do it well.  And I did this for one reason, as I said: to see Alice more.  I wanted to save the marriage.  I would go so far as to join the Freemasons if that’s what it took.  That’s how I was. P.234/235

Wozniak was initiated, passed, and raised in Charity Lodge No. 362, Campbell, CA, in 1980.

Part 3 – The Rule of Law Is Missing From Mainstream Masonry

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popeReviewing the manner in which Mike McCabe was treated and his Lodge was treated, it is quite evident that U.S. Mainstream Masonry has decided to rule and govern itself using a model which is a cross between the U.S. Army and the Vatican.

Read part 1 and part 2

The Pope, or General or Grand Master of New Jersey pulled the charter of Trimble Lodge for no apparent reason other than greed. But first it asked the Lodge to vote on its fate. When 95% of the Lodge voted to remain as they were, the Grand Master said, well you didn’t vote the way I wanted you to so I am over ruling your election and taking your charter.  You are no longer a Lodge in this jurisdiction. Silly us, we thought that the process as laid out by the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey should be binding.

Then when another Pope of New Jersey Masonry goes after McCabe he does so on trumped up charges reminiscent of Derek Gordon’s fate in Arkansas and in one of the charges uses surrogates to file a fake, false charge reminiscent of Gate City Lodge No. 2’s fate in Georgia. All along the way the Grand Master violates the tenants of his Constitution and the spirit of due process. He does so by wanton disregard of his jurisdiction’s most sacred document. Now it no longer becomes the importance of the process but the importance of the leader.

UNCONSTITUTIONALLY CHANGING A CONSTITUTION

The Grand Lodge Oligarchy in New Jersey outlawed its Constitution. You can’t insert a clause in a Constitution that says the leader can ignore any and all statues that he wants to.  By doing so you have dispensed with the necessity of having a Constitution. This seems to be the trend in modern Mainstream Masonry. The rule of law has been replaced with the cult of the leader.

But it wasn’t always this way.  In fact that is far from the tradition of Masonry. For centuries a Grand Master’s power was delineated in the Constitution which spelled out exactly when and how he could interfere in the affairs of a local Lodge.  Under the Constitution local Lodges as well as individual Brothers had rights too and spheres of influence that a Grand Lodge could not violate without permission. Just as in the civil separation of church and state we had separation of Grand Lodge and local Lodges. And Grand Masters adhered to the letter of the law.

But that has gone by the boards in today’s Masonry. And that is precisely the problem that has infected Mainstream Masonry today. Grand Lodges have become like civil governments, jealous of their power and taking extraordinary measures to keep, preserve and protect that power while constantly adding to it. In the process Grand Lodge’s have trampled on the civil rights of its members and overridden their own Constitutions which were written to limit their powers.

Instant Suspensions and Instant Expulsions without a Masonic trial by Grand Masters are not in the tradition of Masonic jurisprudence. Neither is pulling charters and closing down Lodges that are vibrant and healthy for purely political reasons. There has to be some recourse to the Brotherhood for relief from out of control Grand Masters who have eliminated all limits on their power. And that recourse has to be something beyond dumping the problem back on the individual members to correct.  If a Grand Master can over ride and negate any vote taken by the Grand Lodge acting as a body then he is as entrenched in power as Castro is in Cuba.

Here are four suggestions. Pick one, or suggest another.

  1. A National Grand Lodge
  2. A National Masonic Constitution and Bill of rights
  3. A Congress of elected Masons in every Grand Lodge who write and interpret Masonic law
  4. Abolish the Grand Lodge system altogether

The sad fact is that that the Frank Haas story in West Virginia, the story of Halcyon Lodge in Ohio, the Gate City Lodge No.2 story in Georgia, the Derek Gordon story in Arkansas and the Mike McCabe story in New Jersey are all the same peas in a pod. And tomorrow there will be another story somewhere else, and another and another and another until American Masonry decides to reform and police itself deciding that it is an American institution not just a state body with a states rights attitude and a Confederate mindset.

History in the making

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An Historic event took place on September 11, 2010 with the cornerstone laid at the new Judicial Center in Lancaster County Virginia.

This is the first time that both The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons of Virginia and the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Virginia Free and Accepted Masons, Incorporated who jointly performed a cornerstone laying.

Words and photos courtesy of Brother William Baumbach.

For more photos please visit the full album of the event.