Pre-Order From Masonic Book Club: Samuel Pritchard's Masonry Dissect'd

by Christopher Hodapp

The newly revived Masonic Book Club has just announced the pre-publication ordering window for their second volume: a new edition of Samuel Pritchard's 1730 ritual exposure, Masonry Dissected. 

The pre-publication order window will be open from January 27, 2022, until February 28, 2022, at 11:59

The 'old' Masonic Book Club first published this book in 1977 with wonderful commentary by Masonic scholar Harry Carr, Past Master and Secretary of Quatuor Coronati Research Lodge No. 2076 in London.This 144-page reprint of that 1977 edition features Carr’s classic commentary, revised and updated by Ill. Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, G.C., and S. Brent Morris, 33°, G.C.

Pritchard's book included the first known publication of the details of the Master Mason degree, which had only been incorporated into the premiere Grand Lodge of England's ritual in 1726, just nine years after the 1717 formation of their grand lodge.

During the years before 1726, English ritual consisted of only the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft degrees. While Pritchard's book was doubtless seen as a dastardly act and a betrayal of Masonic secrecy and honor at the time, it does provide historians a written record of the Masonic degrees as they existed in those formative years. It was also extremely popular at the time, presumably for both a curious public, and for Masons trying to learn to memorize their ritual.

From the MBC's description:

"When the Grand Lodge of England was formed in 1717, there were only two degrees: Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft. A “master mason” either held the contract at a job site (think “general contractor”) or was the elected presiding officer of a lodge. The first conferral of the Third or Master Mason Degree in a Masonic lodge occurred in March 1726 in Lodge Dumbarton Kilwinning No. 18. The degree apparently was conferred in May 1725 at a social club of Masons in London, the Philo Musicæ et Architecturæ Societas. There is no hint of what the ceremony may have been—not in the Old Charges, manuscript rituals, or publications. Nothing!

"Then on October 20, 1730, Samuel Prichard published Masonry Dissected with full details of the ritual for what he claimed was the Master Mason Degree. A second edition came out on October 21, and a third edition on October 31, all three published by Wilford in London. A presumably pirated edition dated “MD.CC.XXX” (1730) and printed by Thomas Nichols “without Temple Bar” (London) probably had made its appearance by the end of October 1730. Other presumably pirated versions were printed in Read’s Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer, on October 24, 1730; Northampton Mercury, in two parts on October 28, 1730, and on November 2, 1730; and the second half in The Original Mercury, York Journal: or, Weekly Courant, on November 2, 1730 (the reprint of the first half has not been located).

"Thus, there were three separate editions by Wilford for Prichard, a pirated edition by Nichols, and a newspaper version, all printed in London, plus a two-part pirated newspaper version printed in the Midlands, and another pirated newspaper version printed in the North of England, all within fourteen days. This was a popular book!

Here are the specifics from Brent Morris:

View/download a PDF sample of Masonry Dissected (2022).

The pre-publication order window will be open from January 27, 2022, until February 28, 2022, at 11:59  

 

The special MBC pre-publication price is $30. Regular retail price will be $40. 

 

This time during the pre-publication sale period, we also will be offering a "First Day of Issue" signed edition for $45. These copies will not be available later for retail. 

 

We only will accept pre-publication purchases placed using the MBC order form. Pre-publication orders are not available through the Scottish Rite Store.

The printing industry currently is experiencing massive supply chain disruptions. We cannot place the order for Masonry Dissected until pre-publication purchasing is completed and reviewed. We hope to place the order by March 3, 2022. Our printer estimates "approximately 78–83 business days" to manufacture the books. We expect the books to be mailed about June 15–22, 2022, and will keep you informed of progress and changes. Thank you for your understanding during these unusual times.

**Due to GDPR and other complications, we only can accept credit card charges from and ship to the USA, US territories, Canada, and Mexico.

** However, Lewis Masonic in the United Kingdom is accepting a limited number of pre-publication orders (signed & unsigned editions) for the rest of the world. For details, please click the "Order Masonry Dissected" button below and answer "All Other Countries" to the first question.

If you have any questions, please visit the "FAQs" section on our MBC web page or email us at mbc@scottishrite.org.

PRE-ORDER MASONRY DISSECTED

There are no dues for the new Masonic Book Club. Books are announced for pre-publication orders and payments are only collected as books are ready to be manufactured. All transactions are handled exclusively online. Without a rigid calendar driving publications, new books can come out as quickly as nine months or as late as eighteen months, as resources permit. Book prices range in the $30 vicinity for pre-publication orders, or $40 retail if you miss the pre-pub ordering window. Volumes will no longer be numbered as in the old Club, but if the hardback edition sells out, the MBC will make a paperback print-on-demand edition available of the books. 

If there are sufficient pre-publication sales, MBC members will be notified after the pre-publication window closes at 11:59 pm ET on Monday, February 28, 2022. The books will be printed, and will ship around June 15–22, 2022.

If there are insufficient sales, members will be notified; and refunds will be credited about March 21, 2022.

To the relief of the MBC's older original members, the new Club actually communicates with its members twice a year with an electronic newsletter to keep everyone in the loop about upcoming volumes in the works and their production status. Despite his recent retirement from his longtime job of editing the AASR-SJ's Scottish Rite Journal, S. Brent Morris 33° continues to manage the MBC, and this endeavor has truly been a labor of love for him. 

The mission statement of the resurrected Masonic Book Club is to publish classic Masonic works with the goal of increasing Masonic knowledge and to become a profit center for the House of the Temple Foundation. More information can be found at the MBC's website HERE. If you are interested in this or subsequent volumes, you need to sign up on the website. If you have any questions or suggestions, please address them to mbc@scottishrite.org.

GM of Georgia Issues Edict Banning Widows Sons Motorcycle Riders

by Christopher Hodapp

The Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia F&AM, Donald C. Combs, has just issued an edict in his state (No. 2022-2) forbidding the Freemasons in his jurisdiction from belonging to the Widows Sons International Masonic motorcycle riders association. Georgia Masons who do not comply by dropping their WS membership risk expulsion from the fraternity. Further, the edict orders ALL Masonic-related motorcycle clubs and associations in Georgia to disband, with the exception of motorcycle clubs affiliated with the Shrine. (Click images below to enlarge.)

This is not the first time this has happened in the U.S.

Back in 1998, a group of Masons who shared a love of motorcycles organized the first chapter of the Widow’s Sons Masonic motorcycle riders club, led by Brother Carl Davenport out of Chicago, Illinois. Open to all Master Masons, the goal of the Widows Sons was (and is) to promote motorcycle riding among Masons, and to promote Masonic membership among the general public. They regularly support and contribute to Masonic programs that help widows and orphans of Brother Masons. But almost from the outset, there was a cohort of Masons who strongly objected to the public image of the Widow’s Sons, and criticized the group’s first logo design, patches and leather vests as looking entirely too much like an unsavory outlaw motorcycle gang. 

Original logo for the Widows Sons included a sultry, red leather-clad 'Widow.'

(Image from Hiram's Knights website)

Their early vests often featured a Masonic square and compass, and a common objection was that Masonic symbols would be seen in bars on brethren who may not be able to subdue their passions. It was especially objected to in states where a grand lodge forbade Masons from serving and consuming alcohol at lodge functions. And their earliest logo featured a sultry 'widow' dressed in red leathers looking entirely too MILF-like. By the early 2000s, several grand masters around the U.S. issued decisions and edicts against the group, and in more than a few cases, ordered the groups to completely shut down, threatening expulsion for Masons who defied these orders. Other states forbade the wearing of Widows Sons signature leather vests in Craft lodge meetings.

(See Grand Master of Texas Edict: Widow's Sons Motorcycle Group from 2011; I don’t believe that anything has changed in Texas since then concerning Masonic biker groups.)

Photo: widowssonsinternational.com

Unfortunately, Masonic motorcycle associations have always - and continue to attract - extra scrutiny from critics and more than a few grand masters. Motorcycle-riding GMs in general have no issues with them, but plenty of other GMs find them problematic, asserting that motorcycle clubs of any kind attract an unsavory sort of man and are antithetical to the upstanding image that Freemasons have historically cultivated. There are also allegations that the state grand chapters of the Widows Sons set themselves up as a conflict of interest with grand lodges.

Over the last couple of hundred years or so, enthusiastic Masons have often sought to form special interest clubs or groups with like-minded brethren based on their professions, hobbies, or obsessions. There are Masonic veterans’ groups (National Sojourners), fishing clubs, gun clubs (like Hiram's Rangers Western action shooters club), stamp-collecting groups (Masonic Philatelic Club), RV owners (National Camping Travelers ), Masonic luncheon groups (like High Twelve International), and lots more. The most obvious manifestation of this phenomenon can be seen in the Shrine. Upon joining a local Shriners temple, new members are often encouraged to join and participate in a specific affinity group like the clowns, Masonic or Shriner degree teams, little car drivers, classic car enthusiasts, model railroad clubs, boat owners, private plane pilots (the “Flying Fezes”), and often one of the most popular, motorcycle riders. 

Other states have managed over the years to hammer out agreements between their grand lodges and the Widows Sons, so hopefully this will be a brief incident.

UPDATED 1/27/2022 9:00PM

A closer reading of the edict gives a better sense of what it is attempting to address. From his edict I took away that the GL of GA must officially recognize or authorize any group calling itself ‘Masonic,’ and that the entire collection of clubs being disbanded or forbidden never bothered to officially get those approvals. I believe he’s saying, ‘Clean up your act, decide if you want to be Masonic, and apply for approval with the proper committee. Let’s do this right instead of ignoring the GA code and procedures.’

NBC/Peacock Announces Cancellation of Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol'

by Christopher Hodapp

NBC's Peacock streaming network has announced that there will only be the single season of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol that has already aired. The 10-episode series aired between September and November 2021, and there are no plans for future episodes.

Based on Brown's 2009 blockbuster Masonic-themed novel, The Lost Symbol starred Ashley Zukerman as symbologist Robert Langdon, along with Valorie Curry (“Blair Witch”), Sumalee Montano (“10 Cloverfield Lane”), Rick Gonzalez (“Arrow”), Beau Knapp (“Seven Seconds”), and actor and comedian Eddie Izzard as Peter Solomon.

According to the announcement in Variety on Monday, "Peacock and producers believed that the series adaptation of the book told the complete story of the source material." The completed series will continue to be offered to subscribers on the Peacock streaming platform.

The creative team for the series made an early decision to modify much of the Masonic content of Brown's original novel and invent a super-secret level of Freemasons within the fraternity (called 'Leviathan') in order to free the show from having to stick to known facts, symbolism and practices of Masonry. And I was told a major consideration of the producers was their legal departments' advice to not show the square and compass in order to avoid any possibility of being sued for copyright or trademark infringement by the fraternity. (I'm only reporting it.) 

Apparently the Peacock advertising department never got that memo...

The so-called "Leviathan cross" depicted in the show is actually the alchemical symbol for sulphur (also for volcanic brimstone), and series creators invented the fictional group as a special collection of powerful, select, brainy, unseen Masonic masters who protect the really secret secrets to life, the universe and everything.

The Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction created an eleven-part YouTube series that acts as a Masonic viewers' guide to the Lost Symbol program. Hosted by Brother Maynard Edwards, ° KCCH, the multi-part program, Symbols & Secrets, explores and explains the symbols, terminology and accuracy of The Lost Symbol. As the program explains, this is NOT a Masonic symbol. 

Zanesville, Ohio Masonic Temple Destroyed By Fire

(Photo: Times-Republic)

by Christopher Hodapp

The historic Masonic Temple in downtown Zanesville, Ohio was gutted by fire last night, and numerous nearby buildings and businesses were ordered to be evacuated (including the Muskingum County Jail's 100 prisoners). 

Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities reported. 

According to stories in the Zanesville Times-Republic, no statement has been made concerning the source of the blaze, whether it was accidental, faulty wiring, or deliberately set. With the rising number of Masonic lodges being the target of arsonists all over the world, that's a vital bit of business to discover.

Photo: Kelly Sims

Firefighters were called at about 11:00 PM, but the fast-burning flames spread quickly. Although the brick and limestone exterior survived the devastating blaze, the interior floors were almost completely destroyed.

The Temple was opened in 1901 and has been the longtime home of Lodge of Amity No. 5, along with York Rite groups and other appendant organizations. But the Temple was also an important place to the wider community. Between 50 and 60 artists have rented studio space in the Temple for many years. Other renters included a law firm, property management agencies, and a bail bonds agency. Its 7-story height made it the tallest building in the town.

(Photo: Times-Republic)

Because the entire structure was completely gutted, it now poses an immediate danger to people and nearby business if it collapses. Zanesville fire department officials have ordered the Temple to be demolished - possibly as early as this weekend.

On Saturday, the first ever Zanesville Arts Walk was to have taken place, with much activity around the Temple artists' studios. 

Amity Lodge No. 5 is one of the first five Ohio lodges that formed the Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1806. The lodge sold the Temple building several years ago, but continued to lease their lodge rooms from the new owners. Bill Hosler reports that the lodge had officer's jewels made by Paul Revere on display, as well as the military sword belonging to Rufus Putnam of American Union Lodge No. 1. No word as yet as to the fate of those items.

Fire at Grand Lodge of Ireland in Dublin

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story has been updated to include a statement from the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

The Irish Times and other sources are reporting that a fire broke out at the historic Dublin headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Ireland this evening (New Years Eve) at about 5:30 PM local time on New Years Eve. The building was supposed to be empty at that time, and fire officials suspect arson. 

Witnesses said that a man in his 30s was seen climbing through a broken window into the building and setting fire to a Christmas tree that was displayed in the building's library. The fire brigade arrived at 5:40 and quickly extinguished the blaze.

A bizarre anti-vaccination message was also painted on the sidewalk outside.

From the Irish Times:

The graffiti is understood to be reference to mRNA, the technology used in some Covid-19 vaccines.

The Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland grand secretary Philip Daleydescribed the attack as “very serious” and “completely out of the blue”.

However, he said there had been previous demonstrations outside the hall and other Masoni halls in Ireland by anti-vaccination campaigners.

“The view is that we created the virus and we are part of the new world order and we have to be stopped. It’s ridiculous stuff,” he said.

An unidentified man was hospitalized with spinal injuries after falling at the scene. No one is saying yet whether this person is under suspicion for the blaze, or merely an innocent bystander.

The magnificent Freemasons Hall on Molesworth Street in Dublin has been the home of the Grand Lodge since 1860. While the fire was mostly contained to one room, the library is the perhaps the worst of all possible places to be damaged. 

UPDATE: January 4, 2022, 3:40PM

The following statement was issued this morning by the Grand Secretary for the Grand lodge of Ireland:

Dear Brethren,

Thank you for the many emails, texts, and calls offering support and assistance following the arson attack at Freemasons’ Hall. It is impossible, at this time, to reply individually due to the large volume, however we really appreciate your support.

The insurance assessors have been working over the weekend to assess the damage, but it will take some time to complete this. Our first objective is to get Freemasons’ Hall open and operational. It is hoped that electricity and gas will be restored within the next 24 hours and the clean-up has commenced.

Although the damage is extensive, it is repairable, and work will commence over the coming weeks. The books and the paintings in the café / library have suffered smoke damage and a plan is in place to protect them prior to restoration.

I would ask for your patience in dealing with administrative matters at this time. It may take a little longer to get a reply as our computers and telephone services have not yet been restored.

Sincerely & fraternally,

Philip A.J. Daley

Grand Secretary

 Meanwhile, two photos of some of the interior damage to the library and cafe have been circulated on Facebook without attribution. If anyone knows who took these images, let me know and I'll add their credit. 

R.I.P.: Thomas W. Jackson Passes Away

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story has been updated with Tom Jackson's funeral information at the end of the post, along with his official obituary.

Illus. Thomas W. Jackson, 33° has passed away. Known throughout the entire Masonic world, Tom served for twenty years as the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and as the Executive Secretary and Honorary President of the World Conference on Freemasonry. Tom Jackson was one of the most well-traveled Masons of this or any other century, and he was a powerful advocate for the highest standards in every Masonic jurisdiction. 

He had been hospitalized last week at Lancaster General hospital with a severe case of Covid. He died early Thursday morning.

Tom's international travels are legendary, along with his reputation as a fisherman and big game hunter in exotic locales. (That's right - I said big game hunter.) In addition to the Scottish Rite and the York Rite appendant bodies, he belonged to scores of other Masonic-related organizations. In addition to his Pennsylvania lodges, he held memberships in Wyoming, England, Italy, Peru, Morocco and Cyprus, and was granted honorary memberships in 107 different Grand Lodges. He holds grand rank in thirty of these Grand Lodges, and fourteen as honorary Grand Master.

In 2017, Tom estimated that he was out of the country six months a year, acting as an international representative of the fraternity. In his travels, he met the presidents of Portugal, Chile, Romania, Mozambique, Mali, Gabon, Chad and Congo, as well as former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, along with several prime ministers. 

Tom Jackson displaying a small sample of his countless awards.

(Photo: Shippensburg News-Chronicle)

Tom received countless awards and medals for distinguished service from at least nine Grand Lodges in the United States and nineteen international Grand Lodges, including Yugoslavia, Romania, South Africa and Russia. The Thomas W. Jackson Award is presented annually by the Valley of Rochester, NY, to recognize individuals who have transformed the message of Freemasonry into an educational inspiration at a state, regional or national level. The Organization of Masonic Arts annually presents the Thomas W. Jackson Award for leadership to a worthy, outstanding Grand Master. In 2017, the nation of Brazil even issued a postage stamp in recognition of his service in promoting universal Freemasonry.

Tom Jackson was one of the most well-read Masons in the country, and for many years he was the book reviewer for the Scottish Rite NMJ magazine, the Northern Light. In his younger days, Tom taught biology for seventeen years at Penn Hall - he had a degree in the subject (and like P.G. Wodehouse's character Gussie Fink-Nottle, it's a little-known fact he shared a fascination with newts). He briefly served as a manager for a construction company before being named as Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania in 1979, a position he held until 1999. He brought his devotion to education to Freemasonry, and was a staunch advocate for taking a scholarly approach to Masonic research and education. He was an early proponent and leader for the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge. His book, Masonic Perspectives: Thoughts of a Grand Secretary, was published in 2015 and contains forty-four thought-provoking essays about the fraternity. As a Masonic author, in 2004 he was a named as Friar 93 of the Society of Blue Friars. 

Tom was an early advocate for the Masonic Restoration Foundation and its promotion of what has been variously called 'traditional observance', best practices, European-style, or observant styled lodges. He was part of the group that established the first T.O. lodge in Pennsylvania. One of the most common themes in Tom's countless speeches and writings was to decry the lowering of quality in lodges, poor understanding and execution of ritual, and the gradual loss of its prestigious reputation that was once so common throughout North American Masonry. Tom saw firsthand the enormous difference in attitude and perception of Freemasonry in South America, Africa and Europe where lodges continue to attract leaders in academia, business, science, medicine, government, and more. He believed that North American Masonry lost its prestige and longtime reputation for excellence after World War II when grand lodges ballooned in size of membership. Or to paraphrase Dwight L. Smith some sixty years ago, perhaps the age of the common man became a little too common. Tom believed that Masonry here in America lost its way when it stopped attracting the very sort of successful men and community leaders who used to act as mentors and examples to our wider membership. He was always of the firm belief that elitism isn't a bad word, and consistently exhorted lodges and Masons to demand higher standards of themselves, because you can't 'make good men better' if you don't have the best of men to admire, emulate and learn from.

Masonic Week 2009 - A Dummy, Tom Jackson, Brent Morris, 

Robert Davis and Glen Cook

It will be difficult to imagine a Masonic world without Tom Jackson in it –  a true giant in the fraternity. I shared speaking engagements with him many times, and he was an early positive reviewer of my first book when it was fist published (although he cringed at the For Dummies title, and suggested Masonic readers should rip the cover off the book to avoid embarrassment). When we were first forming the Masonic Society, Tom was one of the earliest supporters, and he was named as a Founding Fellow. He was a fixture at Masonic Week each year in the Washington, DC area, and despite his diminutive height, you always knew he was in the room because of his rich, deep baritone voice that carried far. That resonant voice has now been stilled, and I will miss his friendship, his thoughtfulness, and his insights.

Tom is survived by his wife, Linda. The couple lived on their farm in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and have been married for fifty-six years. Please keep her in your prayers. 

When I receive info about his funeral arrangements and services, I will post it on the blog. 

His column is broken, and his brethren mourn.

Requiescat in pace.

H/T to John Bizzack for passing me the news this morning.

_______________________________________________________

UPDATE 

JANUARY 2nd 12:15PM - Tom Jackson's funeral information and obituary.

Funeral services for Thomas W. Jackson will be held Thursday, January 6, 2022, at 2:00 PM in the Fogelsanger-Bricker Funeral Home and Crematorium, Inc. Shippensburg. Masonic services will be conducted Wednesday, January 6, 2022, at 6:00 PM with a viewing following from 6:30 till 8:00 PM in the funeral home. 

Official Obituary

Thomas W. “Tom” Jackson, formerly of Shippensburg, 87, died on Thursday, December 30, 2021, at Lancaster General Hospital. Tom was born in McKeesport, PA, on September 14, 1934, a son of Duane T. and Roseazella Maley Jackson, along with a twin sister, Donna. At eleven years of age he moved to Shippensburg.

Tom was a 1952 graduate of Shippensburg High School, a 1958 graduate of Shippensburg State Teachers College (now Shippensburg University) with a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Biology and a 1966 graduate of Penn State University with an M.S. degree in Zoology. He taught chemistry, physics, and biology in a public school for three years and followed with 14 years as a professor of biology at Penn Hall Preparatory School and Junior College.

An active Freemason, Tom was a Past Master of Cumberland Valley Lodge #315 F. & A.M. of Shippensburg. He served as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Pennsylvania for 20 years and was elected as the first Executive Secretary of the World Conference of Masonic Grand Lodges serving for 16 years. He was a member of over 50 Masonic organizations. He holds honorary memberships in 111 grand lodges around the world and was honored by the country of Brazil with his image on a postage stamp for his contributions to Universal Freemasonry and has a lodge consecrated and named for him in Brazil. He was also honored by being made a chief of the village of Niigua-Saff in the Ivory Coast.

He was active in civic affairs serving amongst others, on the board of advisors for the College of Arts and Sciences at Shippensburg University, volunteer fireman, Pennsylvania State forest fire crew, Deputy Sheriff of Cumberland County, Special Deputy Sheriff of Franklin County, Franklin County Correctional Committee, Board of Directors for the National Collegiate Weightlifting Association, Advisory Council for Freedoms Foundation, President of Shippensburg area Jaycees, the Philadelphia Prevention Partnership Project, served on the Bicentennial Commission, and a member of the Pennsylvania State Grange. He was an Eagle Scout and served as a scoutmaster and assistant scoutmaster of four troops.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, the National Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Wildlife Disease Association, the American Chemical Society, Pennsylvania Realtors Association, the Pennsylvania Farmers Association, life member of the National Rifle Association, the Institute for Legislative Action and was a charter founder of the Second Amendment Task Force.

He was named outstanding young man of the year in 1963, received the Legion of Honor from Mexico, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Shippensburg University, Defender of Freedom award from Freedoms Foundation, and the Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion from the Chapel of Four Chaplains.

He was listed in Outstanding Young Men in America, Who’s Who in American Education-Leaders in American Science, Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans, Directory of International Biography, National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel, Who’s Who in Freemasonry, and was named a Fellow of the American Biographical Institute.

Tom played football and wrestled in high school, competed in wrestling and weightlifting in college. He was an AAU weightlifting champion in 1957, placed second nationally and was named to the All-American weightlifting team in 1958. He was an ardent hunter and fisherman.

He was a former member of the Memorial Lutheran Church in Shippensburg, where he served as a Sunday school teacher for many years and was a member of the Lutheran Church in Rainsburg, PA where he served as a supply pastor when needed.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Linda and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by two sisters and brothers-in law; Donna and Harry Schenk and Sandra and Harold Weaver.

Funeral services will be held Thursday January 6, 2022 at 2:00 PM in the Fogelsanger-Bricker Funeral Home and Crematorium, Inc., Shippensburg. The Rev. Preston Van Deursen and the Rev. William Hartman will officiate. Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery. A Masonic Service will be conducted Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 6:00 PM with a viewing following from 6:30 until 8:00 PM in the funeral home.

Memorial contribution may be made to Cumberland Vally Lodge #315 F. & A.M., 41 Stewart Place, Shippensburg, PA 17257 or The Masonic Homes at Elizabethtown, 1 Masonic Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022.

The Family requests that masks be worn and all Covid guidelines be followed.

South Carolina PGMs Disher and Pearson Stripped of Scottish Rite Honors

by Christopher Hodapp

Brethren from South Carolina are reporting that Past Grand Masters Cal Disher and Jay Adam Pearson have been stripped of both the 33rd degree and Knight Commander of the Court of Honor (KCCH) by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite (SJ).

Both PGMs remain as 32nd degree members in good standing.

The two past grand masters were at the center of controversy earlier this year when Disher expelled PGM Michael D. Smith from the fraternity. At the time, PGM Smith was serving as the Lieutenant Grand Commander for the Scottish Rite, and SGIG for South Carolina. Smith was reinstated to the fraternity after a tumultuous annual communication following the surprise election in April of PGM Ronald C. Mitchum (2005-07) to serve again as Grand Master for 2021-22.

Illus. Michael D. Smith subsequently died on November 17, 2021. After his death, there can  be no sense of closure to this story, no satisfaction in telling it, no wry sense of just desserts dished out, or justice satisfied. Only sadness for the careers of Masons who become victims of leaders who forget the very lessons our Craft tries to teach us all.

More Lights in Masonry - Masons Decorate for Holidays

by Christopher Hodapp

Our annual road trip caravan to Southern California to visit family is in full holiday mode this week, as you might guess from our aluminum yuletide decor. In perusing Reddit today, I came across a couple of Masonic halls festooned with festive holiday decor. It’s a relatively inexpensive (and annually reusable) way to call attention to your temple.

Mount Ararat Lodge in Bel Air, Maryland (above) claims to have 50,000 twinkling Christmas lights decorating their building, more than Rockefeller Center’s tree in New York, and more than twice as many as Clark W. Griswald’s house.

Trinity Lodge 163 in Newport, Kentucky, posted by u/ratebigrob 

Back in 2017, historic St. John’s Lodge No. 1 in Mountain Lakes, NJ participated in the local Christmas Home Tour. If your Masonic hall is even remotely historic, architecturally significant, or just plain situated in a neighborhood with these types of tour events, tie in an open house so that the community has the opportunity to come in and find out just what it is we do and what we stand for. Perhaps offer coffee, hot cider, and hot chocolate to the public and give them a rest from wandering your town in the cold.

Masonic Park and Youth Camp in Tampa, Florida (photo above) sets up an annual drive-through holiday light display. And many state Masonic retirement homes decorate their campuses with nighttime lighting displays.

Meanwhile, my sister and brother-in-law live near Newport Beach in Orange County, California, which is home to one of the oldest and largest Christmas ‘boat parades’ in America. Waterfront houses around the harbor are decorated with lights, along with scores of boats large and small. Everything from two-person launches up to huge yachts and even a massive ferry are covered in lights and process in a line up and down the twisting shore. Some are owned by individuals or  sailing clubs, while others are commercial/corporate vessels. A few local community groups were sponsors or participants in the illuminated flotilla. This would be a golden opportunity for a Masonic district  or group of lodges to band together and create their own floating entry.

Is your lodge or Masonic hall doing anything special for the Christmas holiday season? Pass it along and I’ll update this post. Send to hodapp@aol.com

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Updated 12/21/21 4:31AM

RW David Catten, Past Master of Dewitt Clinton Lodge in Sandwich, Massachusetts, reports that their lodge, a former Methodist church built in 1847, shines for the season. It has been the lodge’s home since 1913.

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MSA Issues Disaster Relief Appeal for GL of Kentucky

by Christopher Hodapp

The devastating tornadoes that tore across Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, and especially Kentucky over the weekend caused untold damage and destruction, and the death toll has risen to 88 as of this morning (according to the Associated Press). The state of Kentucky alone is reporting 74 deaths, and 100 people are still missing.

On December 13th, the Masonic Service Association of North America issued an official disaster appeal on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, at the request of Grand Master James H. Gibson.

Click the image below to enlarge.

KENTUCKY DISASTER APPEAL

As you are aware, multiple tornadoes ripped through the State of Kentucky destroying everything in their path. These tornadoes may go down as the worst in history. It has been suggested that one tornado was on the ground for 220 miles. Several Lodges have suffered catastrophic damage and have varying degrees of damage. They are several Brethren in these areas that have lost everything due to these storms.

Grand Master James H. Gibson has requested the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) to issue this Disaster Relief Appeal.

Please forward any donations you feel appropriate to help our devastated Brothers and their families in this stricken jurisdiction to MSA.

To donate online with a Visa or Mastercard, visit https://msana.com/current-appeals/.

To donate via check or money order, please make payable to MSA Disaster Relief Appeal and send to:

Masonic Service Association

813 1st Avenue SE, Suite 357

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

When remitting by check, please clearly mark that you wish the funds to go to the Kentucky Disaster Relief Appeal.

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Remember that donations made through the MSA's official disaster relief appeals are fully tax deductible, and are considered preferable over independent fundraising programs like GoFundMe. Donations through the MSA are sent directly to the grand lodges that request an appeal, and the MSA does not charge any administrative fees - this has been part of the MSA's mission since its beginnings. 

Donations may be made via check or online credit card payment. (VISA and MasterCrd only - no American Express)

UPDATE: According to Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's website, C.D. Ward Lodge 961's Masonic hall at 201 School Street, East Bernstadt in Laurel County is open as an official KYEM/FEMA disaster recovery center. "[The centers will be open] from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m daily to help survivors with property damage and other setbacks from the recent tornadoes."

'When Were You Born?' - Manly P. Hall's Metaphysical Murder Mystery

by Christopher Hodapp

Late one Saturday night a few weeks ago, Alice and I were buttoned up in the Airstream as wind, rain and snow swirled around us outside. Winter isn't really the ideal time of year to be driving and camping across the country. So instead of sitting around a glowing campfire in the Great Outdoors, we gathered around the glowing neon lavender of our TV screen, fired up the streaming service, and went sculling for buried treasure on the Turner Classic Movies app. We've been on a kick for about three years of hunting down rarely seen mystery movies from the 1930s and 40s, and on this particular evening we stumbled onto a peculiar artifact of which we had been blissfully unaware. It was an odd Warner Brothers B-picture from 1938 called When Were You Born? And as the opening credits flickered across the screen, we both suddenly let out the sort of collective yelp often made in unison on TV shows about ghost hunters and haunted house investigators when a moth flits by their infrared camera.

"Wutthehellizzat?!"

The original script for the movie was written by none other than 20th century esotericist, mystic and founder of the Philosophical Research Society, Manly P. Hall. (Yes, the title card misspelled his name.) In fact, the movie begins with a 7 or 8 minute introduction featuring Hall himself, sitting behind his desk, explaining what each of the twelve signs of the Zodiac mean, and how they purportedly affect people's behavior. At the conclusion of his monologue, Hall stares into the camera with earnest intensity, and intones: 

“A crime has been committed. Astrology CAN solve crime. It has solved many crimes in the past," he assures the audience. "Astrology is the strangest of the sciences, but it IS a science.”

Well, okay, I guess.

The picture features Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong as astrologer Mei Lei Ling aboard an ocean liner bound for San Francisco from the Orient. One by one, she casts the horoscopes of twelve people (one for each Zodiacal sign) and warns one of them that he will be murdered within 48 hours. Sure enough, the arrogant chiseler is found toes up at room temperature and stiff as a carp two days later. In the course of the film, Ling – accompanied by her pet rhesus monkey – uses the astrological signs and horoscopes of the passengers and crew instead of physical evidence to assist the police and determine the murderer. 

Eventually, more killings up the body count before the solution is finally determined. Along the way are skeptical cops, drug smugglers, a shifty butler, spooky chases through hidden passageways, and even a Chinese dragon-shaped 'silent' gun that fires chunks of jade instead of bullets at its targets!

No wonder the Chinese are beating us at hypersonic weapon development these days. 

Ling uses horoscope sessions to solve the murders instead of interrogation, investigation, or even physical clues, and the picture carries the whole astrology-as-science theme throughout, right from the start. In the opening credits, each member of the cast is pictured along with their Zodiacal signs. (Their names don't even appear in the movie's theatrical trailer - only their signs!) 

In truth, it does get annoying every time Mei Ling meets someone new, she raises an eyebrow and immediately demands, "When were you born?"

If you only know of Manly Hall from his Masonic books — The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, The Secret Destiny of America, Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians, and Masonic Orders of Fraternity — you might wonder how he managed to get this odd little picture made and distributed by Warner Brothers. We don't have many celebrities these days whom everyone just seems to uniformly recognize because pop culture is too fractured anymore. But Manly P. Hall was hot stuff in the 1930s. Just four years before When Were You Born? was released, Hall had established the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and other occult subjects. He was wildly popular as a public speaker, and filled auditoriums to capacity. His masterwork, Secret Teachings of All Ages, had been published in 1928, and the public was fascinated with all things metaphysical and occult-ish at the time. 

"See it! It's different!"

Detective pictures and murder mystery stories were a mania throughout the 1930s, especially yarns about private dicks with a character quirk or two. And mysterious mystics (usually wearing turbans on their noggins and taking advantage of rich addlepated widows by peddling metaphysical mumbo jumbo) were common staples in 1930s movies. But When Were You Born? took a different approach, elevating astrology to the status of serious science. 

Warner Brothers reportedly wanted to make an entire series of Mei Lei Ling mysteries featuring Anna May Wong's astrologer character solving more crimes – a sort of metaphysical variation on the wildly popular Charlie Chan/Mr. Moto/Mr. Wong oriental detective characters of the period. (My favorite quote by a villain in Mister Moto's Gamble: "I'm not afraid of a little Japanese dick!"). But disappointing box office receipts for this movie scuttled that plan. And once America entered the war in the Pacific three years later in the wake of Pearl Harbor, audiences almost immediately gave up their enjoyment of brainy Asian detectives.

It's a lousy print, but the complete film can be seen in its entirety on YouTube HERE.

Lots of new Masons stumble across Manly Hall's early books about Masonry written when he was in his 20s and are fascinated by his theories and explanations. But modern Masonic scholars regard most of what he wrote about the fraternity to be flights of fancy. Although Manly Hall wrote about Freemasonry in the early part of his career, he didn't actually join the fraternity until 1954 when he was initiated into San Francisco's Jewel Lodge 374. The following year, he joined the Scottish Rite in the Valley of San Francisco. In 1973, he was crowned as a 33° Scottish Rite Mason. It should be noted that he never wrote about Freemasonry again after joining the fraternity.