Oklahoma Masonic Foundation presents $100000 gift to establish Institute for …
Durant Daily Democrat – OK, USA – June 11th
http://www.durantdemocrat.com/view/full_story/7901870/article-Oklahoma-Masonic-Foundation-presents–100-000-gift-to-establish-Institute-for-Professional-Development-at-SE-?instance=home_news_lead

Masons to lay addition’s cornerstone
Fort Morgan Times – CO, USA – June 11th
http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/ci_15277228

Karas receives Masonic scholarship
Fort Morgan Times, CO, USA – June 11th
http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/ci_15278538

Admitted Freemason A Prominent Figure Within We Are Change NYC
Before It’s News – NY, NY, USA – June 12th
http://beforeitsnews.com/news/77/779/Admitted_Freemason_A_Prominent_Figure_Within_We_Are_Change_NYC.html

Dunedin Elementary’s top readers win new Wheels
St. Petersburg Times – Dunedin, FL, USA – June 13th
http://www.tampabay.com/news/briefs/dunedin-elementarys-top-readers-win-new-wheels/1101774

The Original Conspiracy (book review)
Swans – June 14th
http://www.swans.com/library/art16/pbuhle07.html

Snapshot lecture and Cherokee lodge tour looks to debunk myths on Mason symbols
Rome News Tribune – GA, USA – June 14th
http://romenews-tribune.com/view/full_story/7922437/article-Snapshot-lecture-and-Cherokee-lodge-tour-looks-to-debunk-myths-on-Mason-symbols?instance=home_news

Masons recognize San Luis Obispo County law enforcement
Paso Robles Press – CA, USA – June 14th
http://www.pasoroblespress.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=4634

City weighs fate of crumbling Masonic Temple
La Crosse Tribune – WI, USA – June 16th
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_678076d8-78fb-11df-8e70-001cc4c002e0.html

Past Tense: Masons were movers and shakers in Milan
Heritage Newspapers – Milan, MI, USA – June 16th
http://www.heritage.com/articles/2010/06/16/milan_news_leader/news/doc4c18ebd8ed911661555040.txt

Masonic honour for Wishaw man
Wishaw Press – UK – June 16th
http://www.wishawpress.co.uk/wishaw-news/local-wishaw-news/wishaw-news/2010/06/16/masonic-honour-for-wishaw-man-76495-26657373/

Richters, Wilton participate in 16th Annual Masonic All-Star Marching Band
York News-Times – NE, USA – June 17th
http://www.yorknewstimes.com/articles/2010/06/17/news/doc4c19676361ee5169198685.txt

Masons of Fraternal Lodge honors ‘Most Improved Students’
Foster’s Daily Democrat – NH, USA – June 17th
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100617/GJCOMMUNITY03/706179937/-1/SANNEWS

EO Smith student rewarded for resiliency, compassion, leadership
Mansfield Today – CT, USA – June 17th
http://mansfield.htnp.com/2010/06/17/eo-smith-student-rewarded-for-resiliency-compassion-leadership/

The Masonic Lodge: America’s Smallest Naval Base?
Goodnight, Raleigh (blog) – June 17, 2010
http://goodnightraleigh.com/2010/06/the-masonic-lodge-americas-smallest-naval-base/

Teacher receives $800 grant from Lodge
TriValley Central – AZ, USA – June 17th
http://www.trivalleycentral.com/articles/2010/06/17/eloy_enterprise/sports_and_education/doc4c1947c3a50c5273585941.txt

NOTICES:

And you can access my latest column (non-Masonic related) at:

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

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

All the Best,

Or male and female devilkins to lead my feet astray.

If these are added, I rejoice—if not, I shall not mind,

So long as I have leave and choice to meet my fellow-kind.

For as we come and as we go (and deadly-soon go we!)

The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!

Thus I will honour pious men whose virtue shines so bright

(Though none are more amazed than I when I by chance do right),

And I will pity foolish men for woe their sins have bred

(Though ninety-nine per cent. of mine I brought on my own head).

And, Amorite or Eremite, or General Averagee,

The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!

And when they bore me overmuch, I will not shake mine ears,

Recalling many thousand such whom I have bored to tears.

And when they labour to impress, I will not doubt nor scoff;

Since I myself have done no less and—sometimes pulled it off.

Yea, as we are and we are not, and we pretend to be,

The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!

And when they work me random wrong, as oftentimes hath been,

I will not cherish hate too long (my hands are none too clean).

And when they do me random good I will not feign surprise.

No more than those whom I have cheered with wayside charities.

But, as we give and as we take—whate’er our takings be—

The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!

But when I meet with frantic folk who sinfully declare

There is no pardon for their sin, the same I will not spare

Till I have proved that Heaven and Hell which in our hearts we have

Show nothing irredeemable on either side of the grave.

For as we live and as we die—if utter Death there be—

The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!

Deliver me from every pride—the Middle, High, and Low—

That bars me from a brother’s side, whatever pride he show.

And purge me from all heresies of thought and speech and pen

That bid me judge him otherwise than I am judged. Amen!

That I may sing of Crowd or King or road-borne company,

That I may labour in my day, vocation and degree,

To prove the same in deed and name, and hold unshakenly

(Where’er I go, whate’er I know, whoe’er my neighbor be)

This single faith in Life and Death and to Eternity:

“The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!

Masonic mystery
Nashua Telegraph – NH, USA – Mar 20th
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/679081-196/masonic-mystery.html?i=1

Church rebounding after Masonic Temple fire
Evening Observer – Dunkirk, NY, USA – Mar 21st
http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/537584.html?nav=5047

Hundreds attend event honoring Fred Allen
Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune – TX, USA – Mar 22nd
http://www.dailytribune.net/articles/2010/03/22/news/01.txt

Masonic Lodge No. 342 awards scholarships
Newstreamz San Marcos – TX, USa – Mar 23rd
http://www.newstreamz.com/2010/03/23/masonic-lodge-no-342-awards-scholarships/

Richmond Masons come through for Lee students
New Baltimore Voice Newspapers – MI, USA – Mar 24th
http://www.voicenews.com/articles/2010/03/24/life/doc4baa0fc112bce900425408.txt

NOTICES:

THE SQUARE - Independent magazine for Freemasons (UK)
http://www.thesquaremagazine.com/

This Sunday (MARCH 28TH) the MASONIC CENTRAL talk show will be on the air.
Join in the conversation beginning at 9:00pm EDT (New York).
The talkshow’s main web site is at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/masonic-central
http://www.freemasoninformation.com/
Dial: 724-444-7444 and enter ID 19162
Can’t make the show on Sunday? Download it during the week.

And you can access my latest column (non-Masonic related) at:

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

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

All the Best,

Website: www.freemasonry.dept.shef.ac.uk/

1) First issue of the Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism now officially launched

http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/JRFF/issue/current

Hard copies will be available within a week or so. For subscriptions to the journal, see

http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/JRFF/about/subscriptions

The establishment of an academic journal is a vital step forward in gathering the international academic community devoted to research into freemasonry and related fraternal organisations. We encourage you to submissions to future volumes of the journal and count on your support in this endeavour to bring research in the area to a new level. This concerns especially the review section of the journal where we need qualified information on the apparition of new titles. Dr. Róbert Péter, our review editor, has compiled a database with recently published titles. The following list is not comprehensive and will be continuously updated:

http://www.refworks.com/refshare?site=051541216267200000/RWWS2A1326230/JRFF

2) Third volume of our publication series now ready to order

The third volume of our internal publication series “Sheffield Lectures on the History of Freemasonry and Fraternalism” is now ready to order. The volume titled Researching British Freemasonry 1717-2017 is co-edited by Dr. Róbert Péter, our British Academy postdoctoral research fellow and Dr. Andreas Önnerfors, Director CRFF and highlights the importance of new approaches towards the history of freemasonry in Britain. It gathers eight lectures presented at various occasions by academic and masonic scholars: Andrew Prescott, John Acaster, John Astbury, John Belton, David Harrison, Bob Cooper, Róbert Péter, Andreas Önnerfors and Susan Snell. The Table of Content is downloadable on our website under “Publications”:

http://freemasonry.dept.shef.ac.uk/index.php?lang=0&type=toc&level0=722

Previous volumes:

Vol. 1: Freemasonry and Fraternalism in the Middle East

Vol. 2: Freemasonry and Fraternalism in Eighteenth Century Russia

The price for each volume is £ 15, P&P included. If you want to buy two titles, you can order them for £ 25 and £30 for all three titles. Instructions on how to order online are under the same link.

We are also selling out a CD with the digitisation of all editions of William Preston’s famous Illustrations of Masonry for a special price of only £2 each. The CD was one of the early milestone achievements of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry, published already in 2001.

3) Conference at the MONH in Lexington, MA April 9, 2010

The National Heritage Museum will host a symposium, “New Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism,” on April 9, 2010.  We have set the program and are now taking registrations.  Program information and a registration form can be received from

Aimee E. Newell, Ph.D.

Director of Collections

National Heritage Museum

33 Marrett Road

Lexington, MA  02421

anewell@monh.org

781-457-4144

Check out the MONH blog – www.nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com

4) Public announcement of the 3^rd ICHF in Alexandria, VA

The third International Conference on the History of Freemasonry will take place in Alexandria, VA 27-29 May 2011.

The ICHF public announcement will be available on the following page:

http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=464&Itemid=115

and on the conference website

http://www.ichfonline.org/_private/main.htm

5) Swedish freemasonry to celebrate 275 years of its introduction into the country

To mark the 275^th anniversary of the introduction of freemasonry to Sweden, the Swedish Order of Freemasons will arrange a number of festive events throughout the year. On the name day of reigning king Carl XVI Gustav on Thursday January 28, a book will be handed over to the monarch in which the fundamental contributions of his namesake Duke Charles of Sudermania, later king Charles XIII, to the establishment of Swedish freemasonry will be treated extensively. The volume Hertig Carl och det svenska frimureriet was co-authored by members of the Swedish research lodge Carl Friedrich Eckleff. Director CRFF contributed to it with a chapter on “Masonic diplomacy in London” around 1800. More information on the book: http://www.frimurarorden.se/index2.html

More information on Swedish freemasonry:

http://www.frimurarorden.se/eng/index.html

·      Independencia centroamericana, Sociedades Patrióticas y Masonería: Logias, sociedades secretas y sociedades patrióticas; conspiraciones, movimientos separatistas y masonería; patriotas y masones; mitos, leyendas e invenciones; realidad histórica y tradiciones.

How sad it is that a young man, who has been a Mason for one year would feel that he has been lied to by an organization that has Truth as one of its three greatest attributes.

“This is not the Masonry I signed up for,” he continued in his posting and in so stating arrives at the crux of our problem.

……………….

For some unknown reason, well unknown to me. I have always felt this compulsion to make sure there will be a tomorrow for Freemasonry.  To make sure that the new members were given the correct information on Freemasonry that would equip them for their journey into the unknown.

The History of Masonry shows us that many have attempted to use the genuine Masonic structure to promote  their own ideology.

My perception of Masonry has always been that it should be the basic tool from which you construct something worthwhile. To be worthwhile it has to be what the individual uncovers by himself for himself on this very odd journey through the Masonic Degrees.

So if we hear  “I have been sold a pack of lies” or “This is not the Masonry I signed up for,”. We have failed in our basic responsibility to the Initiate, our teachings have not been good enough.

…….***…….

Freemasonry the Undiscovered Country.

We first see this phrase in HAMLET:

To be, or not to be–that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep–

No more–and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep–

To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely

The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprise of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action. — Soft you now,

The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remembered.

To bodly go where no man has gone before, as the tale of Star Trek unfolds and eventually comes to a full length Feature film called ‘The Undiscovered Country.’

Hamlet sees the phrase as the mysteries of Death and Capt. James T. Kirk sees the mystery of days yet to come. The unknown future ?

To look for a better future we must assume there is something wrong with now.  Freemasonry rests on the three basic principles ‘Brotherly Love’ ‘Relief’ and ‘Truth’.  so where do these basic principles come from, where was the origin of these binding concepts.

1: These are what are termed the Christian Graces of Faith, Hope and Charity.

2: These are what are termed the four Cardinal Virtues : Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice.

One of the major founding principles of Freemasonry is that it is not a substitute for Religion. As we all know full well topics of Religion and Politics are absolutely forbidden in a mainstream Masonic Lodge.

Now some streams of Freemasonry do not conform to this,  what I would call fundamental principle, does that stop them from claiming a Masonic caveat, no it does not it just means it is not a Freemasonry I can have any contact with. There is no exclusion it is just there is no inclusion between us. Is my style of Freemasonry better or more important, well only to me.

However in recent years there have been more and more claims being made that there is some form of spiritual enlightenment within Freemasonry ? Well is there ? this is the question I have been asking myself.

If there is I have not witnessed it. When I say this in conversation I am made to feel by those who say they have witnessed and experienced special THINGS in a Masonic Lodge, that I am not understanding of it. Which means to me I am not educated enough or not elite enough to be able to take part. in these special feelings.

I have recently had a long conversation with several Masons on the word OCCULT. To me and to all my acquaintances this word symbolises , evil or devil like or devil worship. So when I see the term “Freemasonry is of Occult Origin” it is a term I can not accept. Now other people can use the term but please do not link it to any part of me, My Freemasonry or anything evn slightly close to me.

The word does not frighten me, what concerns me is what the outside world hears when the words

“Freemasonry is of Occult Origin”

There is the argument that the meaning of the word Occult is technically is :  This is the explanation from a popular web site that sells Occult products.

OCCULT:

1. Those persons, places, things, ideas and theories that are Secret by Design, relating to, or dealing with supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.

2. Beyond the realm of human comprehension; inscrutable; metaphysical.

3. Available only to the initiate; secret.

4. Hidden from view; concealed.

5. Forbidden by convention.

So, we can see where some portion of Freemasonry may well fit. But we can also see, “supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.” Which even to this uneducated brain contradicts my first and binding oath in Freemasonry,

Q: Do you believe is a supreme being

A: Yes

At the moment of making that confirmation, I accept that the supreme being is the be all and end all of what is and what will be, he is after all, the supreme being.

So in common with Shakespeare and Capt.  Kirk  I use the phrase “Undiscovered Country” as a symbol in Freemasonry of what the new Initiate will see, what he will hear and what he will eventually experience in Freemasonry.

Freemasonry the undiscovered Country.

Now it is not for us to make up his mind for him. That is his job. It is our responsibility however that he is properly supported on this journey of discovery.  We must therefore prevent anyone from hijacking Freemasonry for the evangelising of their own personal views on Religion or any form of Pseudo Religion.

Here the Esoteric Freemason may jump in and express his views, after all Esoterica means ‘hidden’ or  ‘known by a few’  however there is not normally an initiatic requirement to be Esoteric. You can be an Esoteric Steam Engine enthusiast. Then I suppose you could be an Occult Steam Engine enthusiast.

It must be a foundation stone that whatever the candidate experiences in Masonry is within his mind and in his perception of Freemasonry and the world it lives in.  As Master Masons we have a responsibility to the Candidate to make sure he is not influenced by us his mentors in anything other than Freemasonry.

And from the foundation laid, may they build a superstructure perfect in its parts and honourable to the Builder.

Bill McElligott

]]> http://lodgeroomstore.com/wordpress/2009/06/06/freemasonry-the-undiscovered-country/feed/ 0 http://lodgeroomstore.com/wordpress/2009/05/21/morgan-the-scandal-that-shook-freemasonry/ http://lodgeroomstore.com/wordpress/2009/05/21/morgan-the-scandal-that-shook-freemasonry/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 20:08:55 +0000 admin http://lodgeroomstore.com/wordpress/?p=229

Morgan:
The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry

By Stephen Dafoe With A Foreword By Arturo De Hoyos
Was William Morgan Murdered By Masons?

Sample Chapter

On September 11, 1826 William Morgan was arrested for petit larceny and taken from his home in Batavia, New York to answer the charge. He never saw his home or family again. What became of Morgan after he was freed from a Canandaigua jail cell in the middle of the night forms the basis of one of the great unsolved mysteries of American history, made all the more mysterious by the circumstances that preceded it. Several months before his arrest, Morgan had begun work on a book on the Freemasons, a group with which he had recently had a falling. The problem for Morgan and his book was that it sought to expose Masonic secrets, something the local members of the fraternity wished to prevent at all costs.

This book is the story of William Morgan, his associates and the book they proposed to publish. It is the story of how a handful of young, impetuous members of the Masonic fraternity took matters into their own hands to prevent its publication and how their plans took a deadly fork in the road, nearly exterminating the very organization they sought to protect. It is also a book written by a member of the Masonic fraternity.

Praise For Morgan

“Stephen Dafoe’s account is unique. It is not dry history. Written in a narrative form, it conveys the elusive balance which historians demand while remaining a ‘damn good read.’”

- Arturo De Hoyos
Grand Archivist and Grand Historian
The Supreme Council, 33º, Southern Jurisdiction

Direct to Purchase