Steampunk Freemasonry Revisited

The Edison Bar in Los Angeles

I was looking over some old posts, and revisited one from 2008 in which I pointed at Greg Stewart's piece on Steampunk Freemasonry, where he mused on the notion that perhaps part of the Traditional Observance movement might be analogous to Steampunk.

If you don't know what Steampunk is, have a look at The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers.

Interestingly, Brazil has a group of "Steampunk Lodges" - not Masonic, but organized in local social groups calling themselves lodges.

www.rj.steampunk.com.br
www.sp.steampunk.com.br
www.mg.steampunk.com.br
www.pr.steampunk.com.br
www.rs.steampunk.com.br
www.pb.steampunk.com.br

It got me thinking that many of our older lodge buildings already have a head start to a steampunk type of feel on the inside. So if you were designing the ultimate steampunk lodge room interior, what would you like to see in it? (Any artists out there who'd like to run with this?)

Here are some inspirational elements to ponder.

Steampunk airship interior from Second Life

Light fixture from the Mary Baker Eddy Library's Hall of Ideas in Boston.

"M's" library from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Ed Skoudis' home office, from the Steampunk Home blog

Light in Ed Skoudis' home office

From the Steampunk House

Minneapolis Lodge No. 19 in its former home in Harrington Mansion, before the Shrine sold the building last year. Not a bad head start.

And it's hard to get more Steampunk than a Dudley Masonic pocketwatch.

While you're pondering, give a listen to the album Infernal Machines by the Steampunk band, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society.