R.I.P. T.M.S. - The Masonic Society Officially Announces Closure

by Christopher Hodapp

After a prolonged public silence, the officers and directors of the Masonic Society have regretfully issued the following official statement:

Sunday April 27, 2025

Greetings all members, Fellows and friends of the Masonic Society,

It is with great difficulty and sadness that we, as the members of the TMS Board of Directors, inform you that we have officially closed all operations of The Masonic Society, Inc and have ceased publication for the foreseeable future. This decision was not an easy one. Over recent years, the leadership of TMS has been working steadfastly behind the scenes to maintain the viability of the organization while addressing a multitude of issues and concerns including having to mitigate prior management actions and breaches that inflicted irrevocable damage.

Central to these efforts has been our commitment to honoring the vision that resulted in the very creation of TMS. This dedication to Masonic Education first and foremost fueled the resolve to do our very best to meet the interests of our subscribers and members while ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and ethical standards. Throughout this experience, we operated from a perspective of simply doing the right thing and living up to our Masonic values and duties as the Board of Directors.

We are eternally grateful for all those who volunteered to serve in their various capacities during our period of restructuring. A special thank you goes to our Secretary Bro. Driver and Treasurer Bro. Doxsee who stepped in to help pick us up the pieces for what often felt like thankless work. However, the increasing costs of producing a print journal, the shift of available and sustainable resources to support the journal and an unrelenting series of administrative burdens have overcome our earnest intent and capabilities.

The Board is forever indebted and appreciative of Bro. Matt Dupee for helping to facilitate charitable donations in 2022 from the Edward and Lois Fowler Charitable Trust and in 2023 from the Robert and Margaret Cathers Charitable Trust which assisted TMS in meeting several of its critical operations and producing the last TMS journal sent to our subscribers. In full transparency, the Board made every good faith effort to prevent this outcome including the confidential exploration of a transfer of assets to another interested party to keep the Masonic Society name and journal alive, however those negotiations closed unsuccessfully.

During the time of its activity, TMS benefited from the expertise of many authors, reviewers, editors, production staff, leaders, readers and others who contributed to creating and sharing content about this important Masonic area. Thank you cannot be expressed enough. Prospective authors are encouraged to seek alternative publication venues.

As we complete the remaining logistical steps for the shuttering of our doors, we encourage you to always cherish with pride the TMS patents, content, literature and ephemera that represents an important slice of Masonic history. What started as a dream, manifested into a reality and progressed through the very stages of mortality that we reflect upon within the very symbolism of our Craft.

Sincerely and Fraternally,

Oscar Alleyne, Board member & Past President
Mason Russell, Board member
Kevin Wardally, Board member
Aaron Shoemaker, Board member
Mark Robbins, Board member
Reed Fanning, Board member
Michael Doxsee, Board Treasurer
Shamus Driver, Board Secretary
John Bridegroom, Board member
Chris Hodapp, Founding Board member & Editor Emeritus

It’s an unhappy epitaph, but epitaphs always are. I will simply add that this was a point none of us ever wanted to reach. As one of the three blabbermouths who sat at the Hilton Alexandria bar one night in February of 2008 and said, “We should start our own organization and publish our own magazine!” everyone involved has my heartfelt gratitude. Or maybe it’s apologies I owe.

Almost two years of public silence has gone on while all of our board members pursued every possible avenue to find responsible parties to support the Society and its biggest expense, the publication of the Journal. My deepest personal thanks to all of the officers and directors for their efforts in these last couple of years for trying to keep TMS alive, and especially to Oscar Alleyne for his herculean efforts behind the scenes to raise money and bail us out of the hole in which we found ourselves.

The reality is that, when we started TMS, we suffered from the very same birth defect so many other publications have shared for more than three centuries: the complete lack of a professional, long-range business plan that would have at least attempted to deal properly with rising production and postage costs. Like countless groups before us, we started with an almost Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney-esque "We can put on a show!" naivety. But that doesn't pay bills.

We wanted from the start to raise the quality level of Masonic publications by producing a physically beautiful journal with high-quality, full color photography and original artwork. As the founding editor, the TMS Journal was always an exhausting, labor-intensive job — especially the way I designed it at first — and illness eventually forced me to hand off my monstrous creation to art director John Bridegroom and a new editor, Michael Halleran, out of exhaustion. Michael Poll later took on the editor's role, and he and John did a masterful job with the magazine in subsequent years.

Our mission was to create a place in which every Brother could have a chance at publishing their original writings, be they research, essays, poems, or other items that didn't always fit into the other existing Masonic publications at the time. We felt that too much good material was being created by individuals who maybe read their work out in lodge, or at a single Masonic gathering, then vanished into obscurity. I think we successfully accomplished those things, and more. We lasted longer than so many others who have attempted it in the past, and we left behind a beautiful corpse. So for that, I’m grateful.

The other effect we had was to raise the level of expectations for other Masonic publications. Before TMS, so many state and national Masonic magazines looked homemade, two steps above being run off on a mimeograph machine in the church basement. In the wake of the TMS Journal's premiere, countless magazines vastly improved their formats, taking full advantage of the latest publishing tools available, as we did.

To those who will doubtless ask why we didn't simply dump the printed, dead-tree format and just publish an e-magazine, we did discuss that possibility. The sad reality is that e-magazines simply do not get read, and certainly don't get kept around for future perusal. Magazines that have switched to an all-online format are historically just postponing their inevitable death. Worse, the proliferation of online blogs, Patreon sites, Facebook pages, Reddit discussions, podcasts, and more have only fractured the audience for Masonic publications further, making it almost impossible to reach more than a tiny niche of the Masonic world with any sort of publication. Like newspapers and network television, the world has atomized, which makes finding a large-scale audience for a work like ours difficult, at best.

But we were also a membership organization, over and above the content of the Journal. Our hand-stamped patents were unlike any that anyone had ever seen before. From the start, we held our annual meetings at Masonic Week in Alexandria with great speakers, and we spent many years having a second gathering throughout the country - even venturing into the U.K. early on. Our membership drives at Masonic Week, along with our hospitality suites, were extremely popular and well-received. Our Quarry Projects generated an extremely useful and logical Masonic writing style manual that needs to be more widely adopted, to avoid unintelligible conventions, acronyms, and abbreviations that litter so many grand lodge, research lodge and local lodge publications. In short, TMS had everything going for it from the beginning, except perhaps business acumen.

So, as the band strikes up for one last melancholy chorus of "Nearer My God To Thee" and our stern silently slips below the waves, to the officers, directors, Fellows, members, and friends of the Masonic Society, it’s been an honor to go down on this ship together. 

Requiescat In Pace.

Congratulations Illus. Brother James Dillman, 33°

by Christopher Hodapp

I'm furious that a stupid stumble wound up keeping me home from an event that was so important to the four portly gents in this old picture.

Fifteen years and way too many banquet dinners ago, there were these four Indiana troublemakers: an extremely overweight Dummy, WB Jim Dillman, RW Roger VanGorden PGM, and WB Nathan Brindle. The photo above was shot on a very hot summer afternoon in 2007, behind the Indianapolis Scottish Rite Cathedral. Jim, Nathan and I had just started serving together on the Board for the Indianapolis Masonic Temple. We were still two years away from founding The Masonic Society, of which Roger would become the first president, Jim its second, Nathan its Secretary/Treasurer, and I would edit the quarterly magazine. Several years later, Roger, Nathan and Jim would all go on to have officer positions in the Indianapolis Valley of the Scottish Rite.

Over time, we would all have incredible honors bestowed upon us by the fraternity that we never anticipated. Roger, Nathan and I would all be honored with the 33° by the Scottish Rite NMJ. (In my own case, I'm still bewildered and convinced someone snuck mine in accidentally. There's no chance it could have been done on purpose.)

And so it came to pass on Tuesday that now-Illustrious Brother James Dillman stood among his peers at Louisville's Palace Theater and was coroneted with the 33rd degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, NMJ. I would have given anything to have attended that ceremony, but my freshly broken ankle put a sudden kibosh to that plan. My deepest regrets, Jim. I really really wanted to be there.

In a further development amongst our little merry band of Hoosier Masonic cabal members, Illus. Roger VanGorden was named as an Active Member of the Supreme Council NMJ for Indiana.

I don't know what deeds I ever accomplished over the years to be associated with these esteemed brethren of such rare and varied talents, but I thank the GAOTU every day for it.

Masonic Week Feb 8-12, 2023

by Christopher Hodapp

The website for making reservations for the 2023 AMD Masonic Week is up and running. This year's festivities will be held February 8th -12th, once again at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia (a mere cocktail glass' throw from Reagan International Airport, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.).

Eighteen Masonic appendant bodies, invitational groups, research organizations, and others will be holding their annual meetings, degree conferrals, elections, banquets, speeches, and other assorted sundry activities. There is also always a healthy dose of Masonic product vendors on hand. 

The direct link to reserve a room at the Hyatt with the convention rate is HERE.

If you've never been to Masonic Week before, the real benefit of going is that it is the largest concentration of seriously proactive Masons from across the country and around the world you'll find on an annual basis, along with many of the best known Masonic researchers, authors, editors, and other personalities. While the bulk of the groups holding their meetings and ceremonies require existing York Rite membership as a precondition for their own admission (and some are invitational only), you will still find plenty to keep you more than occupied for these three and a half days, even if you're not a member of any of those groups. And there is as much to be absorbed in the hallways, at the bar, or in the hospitality rooms as in the meetings themselves. Make new friendships from around the world, and rekindle old ones. Be sure to bring plenty of filthy lucre as there will be numerous vendors on hand to separate you from your hard-earned simoleons.

On a selfish note, I'll announce the annual Masonic Society Dinner on Friday, February 10th, 2023. Our guest speaker will be Brother Robert Dupel who is the Sovereign Grand Master of the Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees of Canada as well as the Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec. The tantalizing title of his talk is “It’s About Me” which promises to be a refreshing approach to a tantalizing subject.

If you've never been to the Washington, D.C. area before, this is the perfect excuse to go. I will tell you from experience that there is a 50/50 chance of the weather either bringing three feet of blowing snow, or 70 degree sun-drenched days. Sometimes both. That's just Washington in February. (Pack your toothbrush and an extra set of underwear in your carry-on bag in case your flights get canceled. Old hands know this.) But add a day to your trip to sightsee, and be sure you visit the Scottish Rite's House of the Temple no later than Thursday, because it is CLOSED Fridays and weekends. Visit the Capitol, the monuments, the Smithsonian, the unique Egyptian-themed Potomac Lodge, and much more. Have drinks and cigars at the Old Ebbitt Grill around the corner from the White House (you'll find Masons there nearly any night that week). Or go the other direction to Alexandria and visit the George Washington National Masonic Memorial, and have dinner at Gadsby's Tavern. There's no shortage of historic sites tied to Masons concentrated in the area.

Historically, Masonic Week was long tied to the scheduling of the annual Conference of Grand Masters (COGMMNA), which was scheduled, in turn, to coincide with George Washington's Birthday. That was back in the days when the Grand Masters met every year in Washington D.C. at this time. Consequently, Masonic Week would happen the weekend before at the venerable Hotel Washington, which sat in the shadow of the White House. But sometime in the early 1990s, that connection got frayed by the Grand Masters taking their annual meetings on the road and cycling around the country. Still, Masonic Week has always tried to arrange itself to happen the weekend before, or thereabouts. Weather in D.C., the Super Bowl, and other factors have put pressure on organizers over the years, but after this year's Masonic Week, the COGMMNA will return to the Washington area, at the nearby Crystal Gateway Marriott, also in Arlington.

Coinciding with THAT event, the George Washington National Masonic Memorial will also be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the laying of its cornerstone on Monday, February 20th.

Indiana Masons are excited to know that one of our own members, Brother Tyler Whittaker, is an operative mason from Muncie, and he has created a new cornerstone to celebrate the occasion that will be dedicated at that Monday event. (Tyler will be making a live presentation at the Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research in Indianapolis following the Grand Lodge of Indiana's annual Founder's Day festivities on January 14th.)

Journal of the Masonic Society: The Future of Freemasonry and What We Have to Offer

by Christopher Hodapp

Issue 57 of the Journal of The Masonic Society landed in the mailbox over the July 4th weekend. The cover features a beautiful photo of the steps of Indiana’s Battleground Lodge 313 taken by Wbro. Dave Hosler. Dave continues to make stunning photos of Masonic subjects, along with being an indefatigable Mason who seems to turn up everywhere, and we're lucky to have him here in Indiana.

Editor Michael Poll has once again assembled a fine lineup of articles this issue: 

• The Lively Career of Brother William Robinson: a.k.a. Chung Ling Soo by Triston Wilkinson

• A Qabalistic Interpretation of Freemasonry by Rodney McGillvary

• A Treasure Hunt in the Archives of Lodge 43 by Nathaniel Gilchrist

• One and Twenty by M.C. Lee

• On the Esoteric Masonic Nature of Psalm 127

But the one article I especially want to point out in this issue is Freemasonry Struggles for Relevance in the Modern World it Helped Create by Wes Regan, Worshipful Master of Vancouver Lodge of Education and Research. The piece is subtitled ‘A Response to Professor John Dickie.’ WB Regan is a Canadian Mason in the Grand Lodge F&AM of British Columbia and Yukon. The article he has written for the Journal is one of the most thought provoking pieces about the future of the fraternity I’ve read since Angel Millar’s article in The Plumbline last year, entitled The Future of Freemasonry and What We Have To Offer. Unlike the doomers and gloomies who continue to predict the end of Freemasonry as we know it within the next two decades, Regan presents a completely different alternative. 

Last year, Professor John Dickie published The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World. Although not a Mason himself, he presents the history and influence of our fraternity partially by examining the roles of noteworthy Masons and the fraternity itself at major turning points in world events. If you haven’t read it, you’ll find that it’s a pretty evenhanded treatment of Freemasonry and a somewhat unique way to explore the role our fraternity has played at major turning points in history. 

Dickie spoke last December at the Vancouver Lodge of Education and Research, and during the Q&A period, he opined that Freemasonry needs to reconsider its real and perceived secrecy, its relationship with religion, and its continued exclusion of women. He warned that ignoring these issues will adversely affect our sustainability in the coming years. It is these remarks that Brother Regan addresses in his article. 

North American Masons have been splitting between the actively social lodges that concentrate on family activities, community outreach and service, breakfasts, fund raising and other similar pursuits, versus a growing number of more philosophical, esoteric-minded, contemplative lodges (that can go by several labels, including traditional observance, observant style, epicurean, European concept, or 'best practices' lodges). 

Recent Pew polls have shown that North American men have been drifting away from the sort of organized, mainstream faith traditions of the mainline churches that their families followed for decades or even centuries. Over the last 15 years, religiously unaffiliated Americans have been steadily growing in number, and currently make up almost one third of the population. (See chart above.)

When such men knock at the door of the lodge, they more and more frequently answer the question concerning a belief in God by saying “I’m spiritual, not religious.” One of Wes’ main points is that the esoteric-minded, observant-styled lodges are exactly the sorts of organizations such men are attracted to, in part to perhaps explore different notions of spirituality and discover their own paths by having such discussions with other Masons without fear of censure or ridicule...

And what’s wrong with that? 

Freemasonry as a fraternal organization has been elastic enough to adapt itself to vastly different societies all around the world for more than three centuries. And a quick glance at a list of the swollen number of appendant groups that require Masonic membership as a prerequisite (Royal Arch, Knights Templar, Scottish Rite, Shriners, Grotto, DeMolay, Rainbow, Job’s Daughters, Eastern Star, Amaranth, Allied Masonic Degrees, High Twelve, National Sojourners, Widow’s Sons, ad infinitum) clearly shows that Freemasonry has the ability to provide comfortable niches for an enormous variety of individual interests.

Central to Regan’s piece are the writings of the late Tom Jackson, Past Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania, who spent the overwhelming majority of his long Masonic career urging the fraternity to actively seek out better leaders, embrace Masonic scholarship (while rejecting sensationalistic fairy tales and conspiracies), and most important, return to our longstanding demands for better standards of conduct, work and achievement that used to demonstrate that the Masons really were worthy of being known as the movers and shakers in their communities. 

In the scores of book reviews Tom Jackson wrote for the Scottish Rite NMJ magazine, The Northern Light, he was always in search of books that that treated Freemasonry (whether written by and for Masons, or not) authentically, that were neither too boastful of Masonry’s accomplishments and position in the past, nor too phantasmagorical about its allegedly secret , magical, mystical powers. Books and TV shows that exaggerate everything about Masonry wind up influencing men to join in search of these things, only to walk away when they don’t find it in reality in the lodge.

Ultimately, the conclusion WB Regan comes to is that to thrive in 21st century society, it’s long past time we stop pretending that Freemasonry is monolithic worldwide (or nationwide, or even statewide), and to embrace the wide variety of lodges and their individual cultures and interests that have been developing. Just as it did in the late 1700s in England, we have room for both the knife & fork (or ‘leg o’ mutton’) lodges that love the pancake breakfasts, the chili and bean suppers, family nights, golf tournaments, Hawaiian shirt nights, etc, as well as the ‘blue stocking’ (tuxedo) lodges that explore the esoteric side of Masonic philosophy, concentrate on Masonic and philosophical scholarship, or who delight in the old fashioned customs of the formal festive boards.

I obviously can’t do justice to his piece here, and for the time being, it’s only available to members of the Masonic Society in its Journal. If you aren’t a member or subscriber, visit masonicsociety.com . 

• US Membership is US$45.00/yr
• Canadian Membership (Canadian mailing addresses): US$49.00/yr
• Overseas Membership (non-US/Canada): US$67.00/yr. 
• Lodges, libraries and institutions, as well as Masons unrecognized by COGMMNA lodges may subscribe to the magazine alone for the same price.

News of The Masonic Society; TMS Journal Issue 56 On Its Way

by Christopher Hodapp

Issue 56 of the Journal of The Masonic Society is about to start hitting subscriber mailboxes. Our Editor Michael Poll, Art Director John Bridegroom, and the whole team continue to do amazing work highlighting Masonic education and research.

The cover features a stunning view of the ceiling in the main lodge room of the United Grand Lodge of England on Great Queen Street, London. 

Here is the line-up of the papers in this issue:

• Gratitude in Masonic Life by C.R. Dunning, Jr.

• Nine: Masonic Fan Fiction by M. Christopher Lee

• Masonic Education in the Time of Pandemic: The Rubicon Masonic Society’s Experience by Dan Kemble

• The Feast of the Paschal Lamb: A Memorial Service by Michael Moran, FMS and Samuel Kyburz

• Memorials of Tom Jackson and Ralph McNeal

• Highlights of this year's Masonic Week

While I'm on the subject, my belated public congratulations to WB Oscar Alleyne who was elected in February at Masonic Week 2022 as the new President of the Masonic Society. 

(The photo is admittedly a couple of years old, but it's one of my favorites taken of Oscar at the Grand Lodge of New York.)

The annual Masonic Week dinner meeting of the Masonic Society actually had record attendance this year. Some 112 Brethren assembled for food, fellowship, elections and an outstanding speaker. Chris Ruli, longtime Grand Historian and Librarian of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, presented “Masonic Myth of Our Nation’s Capital,” a discussion dispelling some of the more groundless (and frequently silly) stories told about the Masonic influences on the design and building of Washington, D.C. 

In addition to Oscar's election as President, Gregg Knott was elected as First Vice President, and Mark Robbins as Second Vice President. Newly elected Board members are Kevin Wardally, Grand Treasurer of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York, and Mason Russell, Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

And a huge round of thanks to our outgoing President Jay Hochberg who served us during a couple of the most disruptive years in modern world history with leadership and distinction. If you have never discovered his 'Magpie Mason' blog (hard to believe, since he's been at this as long as I have), check it out here.

The Masonic Society was established in 2008 as a Masonic research organization and publishes its Journal quarterly. If you are a Master Mason and not a member or subscriber, you should be! 

"We are brothers who have a deep and abiding desire to seek knowledge, explore history, discover symbolism, debate philosophies, and in short, who are at the forefront of charting a path for the future of Freemasonry. The goal of The Masonic Society is not just to look backward at the history of Freemasonry, but to foster the intellectual, spiritual and social growth of the modern Masonic fraternity.

"To that end, The Masonic Society extends the hand of assistance and cooperation to individual research lodges throughout the Masonic world. It is the desire of The Masonic Society to cooperate with these lodges, to give their members the regular opportunity to publish their papers for an international audience, and to publicize their activities..."

Membership is US$45 per year for US addresses, US$49 per year for Canadian addresses, and US$67 per year outside of the U.S. & Canada. Non-Masons, libraries and others may subscribe to the magazine at the same rate.

And you thought all we do in Indiana is sacrifice burnt offerings to the Corn God

by Christopher Hodapp

Nothing momentous with this post. Just memorializing a lunchtime gathering last week of a Dummy, a visiting Idiot, and our Hoosier pals. 

I'm 63 years old. I have to post these things in lieu of having an actual memory.

Left to right: 

• Nathan Brindle, Past Master of Broad  Ripple 643,  former Secretary of more lodges and other Masonic groups than I can possibly recall, PM of the Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research, and the Secretary of the Masonic Society; 
• S. Brent Morris, celebrated brainbox, recently retired editor of Heredom and the Scottish Rite Journal, resurrectionist of the Masonic Book Club, and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide To Freemasonry, along with many, many other books and articles too numerous to recollect; 
• Heather Calloway, Executive Director of Collections for the entire Indiana University system, longtime House of the Temple curator, board member of the J. H. Rathbone Museum of Fraternal History in Lafayette, Indiana, and head of the newly established Center for Fraternal Collections & Research (CFCR).
• Roger VanGorden, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana, founding President of the Masonic Society, and member of the Masonic Renewal Committee of the Conference of Grand Masters; 
• David Hosler, Worshipful Master of Battle Ground Lodge 313 and one of the hardest workin' Masons in Indiana; 
• Some bedraggled-looking Masonic Dummy, author, and editor emeritus of the Journal of the Masonic Society (who apparently combs his hair with a fork); 
• John Bridegroom, Junior Grand Deacon of the GL F&AM of Indiana, Past GM of the Cryptic Masons, designer and proprietor of The Masters Craft, and art director of the Journal of the Masonic Society; 
• Jim Dillman, Past Master of Lodge Vitruvian 767, former president of the Indianapolis Masonic Temple Association, and Past President of the Masonic Society; 
• Jeff Naylor, founding Master of Lodge Vitruvian 767 and Knight of the North.

Just remember: there is no cabal.

Journal of the Masonic Society 50th Issue: Twelve Years and 24,000 Pages Ago

by Christopher Hodapp

It began in a bar, as only the finest, dazzlingly harebrained schemes should, over watery glasses of well-brand scotch. It was predictably frigid in Washington, D.C. that February on the Saturday night of Masonic Week, too cold to sit outside and smoke pipes and cigars while weaving plans within plans with fellow plotters and organizers of secret cabals. 

Masonic Week of 2008 was one of those moments you can look back on and say that right then was when things changed. There was everything that weekend; shake ups, controversies, new books, exciting speakers, fresh new faces and wise old ones with fresh new ideas, the realization that some of those ideas were bearing fruit around North American Freemasonry, and the sort of intense frustration with the status quo that such a toxic combination inevitably leads to. Devious plans are usually deserving of lowered voices in dimly lit, book-lined studies, with cut glass ashtrays shared by Unnamed Superiors. But the Hilton Mark Center’s 80’s-chic lobby bar would have to do...

This coming issue of the Journal of The Masonic Society will be #50 and will feature papers from a few of the Brethren who founded The Masonic Society. These papers will recount the early days and actions taken by a handful of Masons with the goal of doing something different, something better, and something very needed in U.S. Freemasonry. It is a success story of doing what so many said could not be done — and setting a new standard for all Masonic publications and societies.

TMS President Jay Höckberg, Past President Roger S. VanGorden, Secretary/Treasurer Nathan Brindle, Journal Editor Michael Poll, Art Director John Bridegroom, and myself will share thoughts, opinions, plans, and actions that ended up being the revolution in how to create a - The - Masonic Society.

From our very first conversation, the Masonic Society was conceived with a strong eye on the thousands of dedicated Masons who read and write about Masonic history, symbolism, philosophy and more, but are never heard from outside of their local area. We wanted our society's publications and programs to feature the best from the world’s numerous Masonic research lodges and groups that would otherwise vanish into obscurity after being read at one of their too infrequent meetings, or possibly printed in some collection of papers no one would ever open again. Too much great, interesting, insightful, inspirational work is done locally that deserves a bigger audience. And we wanted to create a magazine that had at least three articles or features in every issue that interested you or me, a Grand Master or a new Mason, and everybody in between.

With that mission in mind, our little group stayed up through the wee hours of the morning engaging in the sort of “We can put on a Big Show in the barn and you can make the costumes!” conversation usually reserved for business startups and Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movies. Fifty issues and 2,400 jam-packed pages later, the Masonic Society has indeed put on quite the Big Show in that little barn, and it came out pretty darned good, I must say. As the founding editor of the Journal, I can say with great satisfaction that it accomplished what we all had hoped it would do from the start — a rising tide raises all boats. Numerous Masonic magazines and journals across the country have stepped up their game to improve their looks, quality and content, and increase their value to their readers after we set the bar higher. That’s been good for all of us. 

To this day, the Masonic Society still publishes the most valuable, useful and beautiful Masonic magazine of original research, artwork, photography and essays anywhere.

After I was compelled to bow out as Editor in our fifth year to deal with health issues, I was ably succeeded at the editor's desk by my friend Michael Halleran, and my fellow Indiana Mason John Bridegroom shouldered the huge job of Art Director. When Michael also withdrew after a few years, Mike Poll brought his many years of editorial experience as a Masonic book publisher to the Journal, and all of us have been the beneficiaries of John and Mike’s unbeatable combination of talents ever since. This milestone issue provides a good excuse to look back and survey the fruits of twelve years of labor and devotion.

To read past issues of the Journal online, CLICK HERE.*

In its first dozen years, the Masonic Society has served the entire fraternity worldwide by preserving vital Internet resources like Paul M. Bessel's indispensable research site; created media references about Masonry for the press during the height of Da Vinci Code/Lost Symbol/Dan Brown mania; hosted seminars and symposia all across the country and in the U.K., and much more.

Over the years TMS conferences and symposia have been outstanding experiences (see this report from the 2017 conference in Lexington, Kentucky). And we continue to hold our annual meeting with a speaker at Masonic Week each year, true to our origins.

The Masonic Society's Quarry Project Masonic Writer's Guide established widely-adopted writing style guidelines for Masonic authors, historians, researchers, libraries and museums to achieve some sense of uniformity to abbreviations and capitalization questions involving our peculiar and specialized nomenclature. If you aren't sure whether to type Masonry or masonry; Grand Lodge or  grand lodge; St. or Saint; thirty-second degree or 32°; fellow craft or fellowcraft; Brethren, bretheren, or botheren; whether or not to use lodge numbers and how; whether to use honorific titles (like Most or Right Worshipful, Illustrious, PGM, WB, KT, WM, etc.), or just how to structure a Masonic footnote or citation, check out the Quarry Project Masonic style guide.

Not a member of The Masonic Society, or has your membership lapsed? Annual dues are a paltry $45 and include four quarterly issues of the Journal, a dazzlingly splendiferous certificate of membership, dues card and pin. Institutions, non-Masons and non-qualifying members of unrecognized Masonic organizations may also subscribe to the Journal at the same rate. For membership requirements and applications, CLICK HERE.

*One caveat about these full issues of the Journal being available electronically at this time - you cannot download or print from them, they are read-only. TMS has a reprint policy, and physical copies of almost every issue from the last twelve years can be purchased from the website. That policy is for the protection of  our authors to prevent wholesale piracy of their hard work, which is, sadly, a very real concern in this electronic age.

The Celestial Lodge: Alaska PGM John 'Bo' Cline Passes

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED 7/11/20.

My longtime friend and Masonic Brother John 'Bo' Cline, passed away from acute leukemia on Wednesday. My deepest condolences to his dear wife Beth, to Josh, Megan, and all of their family.

It has been my privilege to know both Bo and Beth since I was invited to speak at Alaska's annual communication on Kodiak Island back in 2009, when he was elected as Grand Master. Bo's honors and accomplishments are far too numerous to recount here. In addition to serving as Alaska's Grand Master, he has served as a board member of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, a member of the Board of Directors of the Masonic Restoration Foundation, and he was the third President of the Masonic Society between 2012-14. 

I just read that Bo was due to receive his honors as a 25-year member of our fraternity this month from his mother lodge, Alaska's Matanuska Lodge No. 7. 

Bo passed away on the 25th anniversary of the date of his being raised as a Master Mason.

Bo was such an incredibly multi-talented, multi-faceted man. On his Facebook page this week, Beth's brother, Jim Dodds, wrote this about Bo:

As with anyone it's hard to sum up in so many words a man's life.
With Bo it's exceedingly difficult because Bo lived an exceptional life.
He was an avid outdoorsman, brilliant engineer/scientist/mathematician, world traveler, and incredibly talented craftsman. Woodworking and brewing were his crafting passions.

To me though he was a mentor, friend, and even though he was married to my sister he seemed like a true blood brother.
He was 15 years older than me but I didn't feel that age difference.
He taught me about fishing and camping and working on the farm.

Indeed. Bo Cline was all that, and more. He was a mentor to all who knew him, and a natural leader who inspired everyone whose lives he touched. 

The COVID virus shutdowns have made all of our usual customs surrounding death and grief even more more heartbreaking than they would normally be under the best of  circumstances. Beth has requested that his Masonic Service be held later on when it is safer to gather together.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the prince is describing to his friend Horatio a vision of his father's ghost, 'in my mind's eye.' 

"He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again."

I feel much the same way about Bo's passing. Men and Masons like Bo Cline pass this way but once. Would that there were thousands more like him.

His column is broken, and his Brethren mourn.

Requiescat in pace.

NOTE: The Masonic Restoration Foundation has announced that they will hold on online remembrance for Bo Cline on Sunday, July 12th at 8:00 PM Eastern Time (4:00 PM Alaska time), and it is open to anyone via Zoom. 

Click HERE to register. 

After registering, you will receive an email with information about joining the meeting.

Alaska PGM 'Bo' Kline Hospitalized

by Christopher Hodapp

Word came late Wednesday night that RW John R. "Bo" Cline, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alaska and Past President of the Masonic Society, is in critical medical condition. 

Bo's wife Beth sent out a message that he is in the Intensive Care Unit at the University of Washington Medical Center with acute leukemia.

According to Beth's message, Bo is "in critical condition but hanging in there. Please let the brethren know and keep him in your thoughts."

Indeed we shall, Beth. It has been my privilege to know both Bo and Beth since I was invited to speak at Alaska's annual communication on Kodiak Island back in 2009, when he was elected as Grand Master. Bo went on to lead the Masonic Society as its third President. He has been a very active, enthusiastic and well-traveled Mason as long as I have known him, and I never knew where he was going to show up next. 

Alice and I are praying hard for them both.

'Journal of the Masonic Society' Back Issues Now Online

by Christopher Hodapp

Great news for Freemasons in search of a new, untapped resource for quality, thoughtful and informative Masonic reading and research material. The Masonic Society has just made the first twenty issues of the Journal of the Masonic Society available online at no cost via the Issu website.* I understand more issues are coming as soon as their indefatigable Secretary and webmeister can organize and upload the pdfs of even more.

I'm especially proud of these particular issues, as I was the Editor of the Journal for the first four and a half years (through Issue 18), and only reluctantly gave it up as I dealt with some major health issues at the time. I was more than ably succeeded by Michael Halleran and then by Michael Poll, who has been at the helm for many years now. John Bridegroom took over the art direction and design of the magazine when I had to resign, and the Journal has continued to grow and improve year after year.

When we started TMS and first conceived the Journal a dozen years ago, it was our fervent hope that it would look, read and feel very different from any other Masonic magazine out there. The state of most Masonic magazines at the time was pretty lethargic and dull, and the greatest side effect of us hitting mailboxes was that it compelled other magazines about the fraternity to improve their look and appeal, too. Rising tides really do lift all boats, and the fraternity has benefitted by all of us trying to provide better quality publications. To this day, the Masonic Society still publishes the most valuable, useful and beautiful Masonic magazine of original research, artwork, photography and essays anywhere.

Central to the TMS Journal's philosophy all along has been that it strives to have such a wide variety of features, papers, stories, poems, photography and artwork that every Mason can find something of value in every issue. In it you will find articles from brethren you may never have heard of before, instead of the same names and faces year after year. We said from the start that we wanted to be partners with all Masonic research lodges and societies, everywhere. We wanted to give their members an internationally available journal in which to publish their work to a wider audience, instead of just delivering a detailed, killer Power Point presentation that took years of work to a room full of 25 guys at a meeting and having it disappear forever. That offer still stands today, and Michael Poll is always looking for new articles from new authors and researchers — maybe that's you.

Not a member of the Masonic Society, or were you once but are no longer? Membership in the Masonic Society is US$45 per year for US mailing addresses (including APO/FPO/DPO), US$49 per year for Canadian mailing addresses, and US$67 per year outside of the U.S. & Canada. 

You can sign up for full membership if you are a regular, recognized Freemason, or as a non-voting subscriber if you belong to unrecognized obediences, or are an institution like a library, museum or research organization.

TMS is not just a magazine with some spiffy membership certificates (some of the spiffiest, I might add). In its first dozen years now, the Masonic Society has served the entire fraternity worldwide by preserving vital Internet resources like Paul M. Bessel's indispensable research site; created media references about Masonry for the press during the height of Da Vinci Code/Lost Symbol/Dan Brown mania; hosted seminars and symposia all across the country and in the U.K., and much more.

The Masonic Society's Quarry Project Masonic Writer's Guide established widely-adopted writing style guidelines for Masonic authors, historians, researchers, libraries and museums to achieve some sense of uniformity to abbreviations and capitalization questions involving our peculiar and specialized nomenclature. If you aren't sure whether to type Masonry or masonry, Lodge or lodge, St. or Saint, thirty-second degree or 32°, Brethren, bretheren, or botheren, whether or not to use lodge numbers and how, whether to use honorific titles (like Most or Right Worshipful, Illustrious, PGM, WB, KT, WM, etc.), or just how to structure a footnote, check out the Quarry Project Masonic style guide.

For more about the Masonic Society, be sure to visit the website at www.themasonicsociety.com . And stay tuned for more back issues coming online soon.

One thing's for sure - the COVID -19 pandemic shutdown is a golden opportunity for Masons to catch up on their ritual work, maybe learn a new part, or polish up one gathering dust in the back of your brain. But it's also a boon to those who claim they're usually too busy to bother with 'Masonic education.' Even if you don't have a house full of unread Masonic books, there's no shortage of excellent material to be found online.

*One caveat about these full issues of the Journal being available electronically at this time - you cannot download or print from them, they are read-only. TMS has a reprint policy, and physical copies of almost every issue from the last twelve years can be purchased from the website. That policy is for the protection of authors to prevent wholesale piracy of their hard work, which is, sadly, a very real concern in this electronic age.

Jay Hochberg Elected President of the Masonic Society

As Masonic Week kicked off on a Thursday night twelve years ago, a half-dozen of the shadowy 'Knights of the North' of Laudable Pursuit notoriety were hosted at a dinner at historic Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town by a group from Alexandria-Washington Lodge 22. Nearly everyone in that group was already well acquainted with each other from meeting electronically on a now-defunct Masonic discussion forum called MasonicLight, and the hot topic on everyone's lips the entire weekend was "Masonic reformation." 

Two nights later, the ideas that became the Masonic Society were noodled about over drinks in the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center's lobby bar. 

WB Jay Hochberg was there from the very start that fateful February of 2008, and he was named as a Founding Fellow of the Society when we officially announced ourselves as open in May 2008. So it is with great honor and pride that I report that Jay has just been elected this weekend as the seventh President of the Masonic Society at their dinner and annual meeting. Some sixty brethren and guests attended the Masonic Society dinner in Crystal City. 

Jay is a Past Master of New York City's Publicity Lodge No. 1000 and New Jersey Lodge of Research and Education No. 1786. Masonic readers have enjoyed his Masonic Magpie blog since 2008, and he has been involved as advertising director for the Journal of the Masonic Society, news and story gatherer, Masonic event calendar coordinator, and/or board member and officer from the very beginning.

From Jay's blog post this weekend:

• Board member Greg Knott advances to the Second Vice Presidency, and so Oscar Alleyne becomes First Vice President. Other personnel changes are to come. 

• Our membership stats fluctuate, but if you once were a member we somehow lost, don’t be surprised when you find me on your doorstep with a pizza and a six pack looking to talk about you rejoining. Actually, a survey to current and past members will help us understand what about the Society is appreciated, and what is disappointing. Coming soon. 

• We are talking about ways to enhance membership value in the Masonic Society. When Masons in my travels talk to me about our dues, the consensus is “Forty-five bucks—no problem!” But those of us inside the brain trust want to deliver more for your dollar, so we will find a way forward using media technologies. A discourse community, for sane Masonic conversations, and videos, to bring far away lectures to you, are feasible. We are blessed to have several eminent Masons, who do this sort of thing professionally, guiding us here.

• Special events? God, I hope so! It seems like another Masonic-con or Esoteric-con springs up somewhere in the United States every couple of weeks. In years past, the Masonic Society hosted a number of unforgettable experiences, and I hope to regain that momentum before [my] impeachment hearings commence!

We are grateful to Mark Tabbert for his after-dinner remarks this evening in which he presented the historical record of George Washington’s actual Masonic life. Not the myths nor the exaggerations, but just the facts concerning what has become a misunderstood chapter in Masonic history. Look for Mark’s upcoming book on this subject due soon from University of Virginia Press...

In its first decade alone, the Masonic Society served the entire fraternity worldwide by preserving vital Internet resources like Paul M. Bessel's indispensable research site;  created media references about Masonry for the press during the height of Da Vinci Code/Lost Symbol/Dan Brown mania; hosted seminars and symposia across the country and in the U.K.; the Quarry Project established widely-adopted writing style guidelines for Masonic authors, historians, researchers, libraries and museums. And the Masonic Society still publishes the most valuable, useful and beautiful Masonic magazine of original research, artwork, photography and essays anywhere — the Journal of the Masonic Society, edited by Michael Poll and art directed by John Bridegroom. 

But it has been close to a dozen years now. I listened in at the electronic keyhole to the Board Meeting of the Society on Friday afternoon, and members both current and former will be happy to know the Board is undertaking a much-needed evaluation of things as they enter their twelfth year. Jay's message alludes to some of that. Look for exciting new announcements very soon.

Not a member of the Masonic Society, or were you once but are no longer? Annual membership is a paltry $45 and can be accomplished online HERE.


By the way, in January 2020, the Masonic Society was informed that a Facebook Group called the “Global Fraternal Network” changed its name to “The Masonic Society”. The Masonic Society is not associated with the Global Fraternal Network in any way. The owners of the Global Fraternal Network are not members of The Masonic Society, and the name change was made without TMS' approval or any prior request.

TMS notified Facebook of this clear attempt to hijack the good name of TMS, and has changed its name of their Facebook group to “The Masonic Society – Official Facebook Page”. Here is the link to the real Masonic Society Facebook group. The only other Facebook presence with official TMS sanction is the page The Journal of The Masonic Society. Any other Facebook group purporting to call itself “The Masonic Society” has no permission to do so and should be considered illegitimate and spurious. As a result of the complaint to Facebook, the “Global Fraternal Network” returned to its original name. 

Just another Internet day in trademark hell.