The Speculative Mason

From NPR’s Marketplace News – Researchers from the University of Manchester have distilled the components of a perfect handshake down to a science, literally, and it looks like: PH = √(e2 + ve2)(d2) + (cg + dr)2 + p{(4< s … Continue reading →

According to TheBookseller.com, last week's release of the UK paperback edition of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol sold a massive 118,230 copies in just three days—the biggest ever first-week sale of any paperback novel. That works out to 27 copies per minute.The hardback edition sold 550,946 copies in three days in the UK upon release in September last year, smashing the all-time sales record for a hardback novel. It has since gone on to sell 1,370,000 copies in the UK.Just in case there was any doubt left in anyone's mind that there's little interest in Freemasonry. If you haven't read it, the novel is a 509 page love letter to the fraternity.Anchor Books will not release the U.S. paperback edition until October 19th, with an initial 4 million copies, priced at $9.99. On November 2nd, Doubleday will publish The Lost Symbol Special Illustrated Edition as a $35 hardcover.

The brethren of Gainesville Lodge No. 41, in Gainesville, Florida got some decent coverage in the local paper today. Have a look at Masons offer a look inside by Patrick Annesty.The average age of members at the downtown Gainesville lodge 20 years ago was 70, said [WM Ray M.Davis Jr]. Today, it's around 50."A lot of University of Florida students are joining," said Tony Spitaleri, the presiding officer of the Waldo Masonic lodge, who is also a member of Lodge No. 41.He estimates that more than 10 UF students are now members. "They go to other communities and transfer to other lodges, but they join and are raised here," Spitaleri said.[snip]"You take a person coming in, and they are real rough, like a quarry stone," Davis said. "You chip, polish, scrape, and pretty soon it becomes a beautiful piece of stone for a building. But we work on the building within (oneself)."These are principles of historic stonemasons that shape the modern Mason outlook, or "speculative masonry," Davis said."We don't use brick and mortar to build, but we use the principles of them because that's what makes a strong house," Davis said. These same principles are used to build a strong community, he said.As far as the secretive nature of the organization, there's an explanation for that, too.Spitaleri said that like college fraternities, secrets are used to ensure the authenticity of those who claim to be members."Secrets are one way to make sure people are not lying to you," he said. "There's ways of asking people questions that if they can't answer them properly, you know they are not a member."Davis said the origins of Masonry trace to King Solomon's Temple in about 600 B.C., though the sect was not officially recognized until 1717, when the Catholic church ended its persecution of Masons.The Gainesville lodge was chartered in 1857, and the cornerstone for the current building was laid in 1908. Local Masons also laid the cornerstone for the University Auditorium in 1922. During World War II, the lodge opened its doors to house servicemen.

The following was originally published in 2007 on the MasonicTraveler.blogspot.com blog. Presently it is one of several essays in the new book Masonic Traveler, where you can find a more refined and extended version of the post below. Since this … Continue reading →

Texas brethren, mark your calendars for the 2010 State-Wide Philip Crosby Tucker Legacy Scottish Rite Convocation!The Scottish Rite Orient of Texas (All nine Valleys — 9! Count 'em 9!— including 3 of the 5 largest in the U.S. - Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth) will be having its first ever statewide Biennial Convocation at the Scottish Rite Library & Museum in Waco on July 31-August 1.This promises to be an outstanding event! There will be degrees, break-out sessions, a banquet and more. The Masonic Society will have a table there. Stop by and see Brother Roberto Sanchez.The website for the event is at www.texasscottishrite.org(Many thanks to Brother Pete Normand for the information.)

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Brother Eric Diamond's X-Oriente Masonic internet radio program has been off the air for a while. He reports that he's been sidetracked by full-time double major graduate school, but he says three new episodes are in the pipeline.Episode 39 is now up on the website. It kicks off a multi-episode look at the basics of Kabbalah and how it intersects with Freemasonry, from a very traditional perspective, with lots of Hebrew and lots of context. Glad you're back, Eric.

Alexandria Washington Lodge No. 22, which meets in the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, continues its 'Silent Summer' film series in the GW Memorial Theater. Silent films will be run Wednesday evenings in the theater this month at 7:30. This Wednesday, July 28th will feature Fritz Lang's Metropolis.The next Wednesday, August 4th, will be F.W. Murnau's Sunrise.Sponsored by the Lodge, admission is free and open to the public.Thanks to W:.B:. Andrew Hammer, AW22's Master this year, for the heads up.Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 is one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in the United States. It was founded in 1783 as Lodge No. 39, under warrant from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Five years later, the Lodge sought and received its charter from the Grand Lodge of Virginia, as Alexandria Lodge No 22, with George Washington listed as its Charter Master. In 1805, the Lodge changed its name to honor its most famous and illustrious brother.

The trouble with the internet is that any 13 year old nerd with computer savvy can build a website that looks authentic, or feels like something far bigger and more important than it really is. One bored basement dweller with nothing but time on his hands can create endless online personnas, bestow lavish honorifics on himself and his imaginary sock puppet associates, and make endless claims of knowing the "real" truth and holding the keys to Life, the Universe and Everything. And with a group like Freemasonry that has a reputation for being secretive, the problem gets even larger. Who's legit, and who is just a con artist, proclaiming himself as the Most Frabjous and Worshipful Supreme Magus of the 12th Quadrant, with his pet cat Snowball as his assistant Hierophant? And how much harm can such pranks really cause? The answer is, they do enough harm to be worthy of a warning now and then.Over the last few years, I have steered clear of mentioning this subject because I didn't want such miscreants to get any more publicity than they create for themselves. But one in particular has recently crossed some appalling lines, and has caused international furors and misunderstandings - enough that it's worth warning folks who stumble across him and his hijinks.I refer to Mr. Brad Cofield and his most recent online flimflam, "1613 Nation." Think of it as being analogous to a Nigerian e-mail scam for unsuspecting non-Masons.Brother Ed King at www.masonicinfo.com has done a good job in detailing Cofield's online antics since he first appeared on the online scene in 2006. Most regular North American Masons have driven him off of online message boards and banned him from their blog comment areas (this one included). His style is pretty easy to spot, even with his endless phalanx of aliases. And even recent irregular and unrecognized breakaway groups like the Grand Orient of the USA have been so pestered by him that they have tried to keep him off of their websites. But his most recent tapestry of deceit is now raising tempers in Europe, as well.I'll refer you to Ed King's above mentioned article for the bulk of Brad's story. Cofield was initiated and passed in a regular California lodge, but was never raised to the degree of Master Mason. His FC degree was conferred in 2006 when his lodge traveled to the annual "Eblen's Cave Degree," in Kingston, Tennessee, and the experience there was apparently less than positive. Cofield was confronted with blatant racism by regular Masons there, and was rightfully disgusted by it. On his return to California, for whatever reasons, his mother lodge did not choose to advance him, and he left.Material exists on the web that alleges Cofield had a prior history of internet stalking on a message board about dog breeding, and one lady apparently swore out a police complaint against him in February 2006. If this is indeed the same guy, he clearly has a history of not playing well with others. He will undoubtedly not react well to this posting. He brands most of those who out him for his tactics as "haters."Over the years, he has invented his own imaginary Masonic tree forts. When the aforementioned Grand Orient of the USA was formed in Georgia in 2008, he immediately claimed he was a California member. He next created a web page for an imaginary lodge, Temple Sobek-Ra, under a group of co-Masonic "operative Egyptian Masons" called the Masoneria Egipcia del Antiguo Primitivo Rito de Memphis Misraim (M.E.A.R.P.M.M.), offering up 99 (count 'em!) degrees. To give his new lodge that little extra feel of authenticity, he appropriated for his "Magus Masonica" blog site a photo of the lavish and very real Egyptian room at the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania's building in downtown Philadelphia.Cofield appears as the "National Head" of Memphis Misraim for Washington (state) on the MEARPMM website, which names Frank G. Ripel of Italy as the 99º Grand Hierophante of the order. (Ripel is a self-proclaimed esoteric genius, who has founded a busload of bogus groups, including the "Brotherhood of the Vampires." Really. Somebody get me a zombie.) The site also describes a connection between MEARPMM and the Ordo Templi Orientalis (O.T.O.), which is itself a story much too convoluted to go into here. And as the icing on the cake, the MEARPMM site also takes a moment to sing the praises of Licio Gelli. If you aren't nodding off by now, you may recall Gelli as being the Venerable Master of Italy's notorious, neo-fascist Propaganda Due (P2) lodge. Brad apparently doesn't seem to care whose company he keeps. On July 9th of this year, Brad made this announcement:WGH Frank G. Ripel has bestowed on me the 97º of Memphis-Misraim and the office of International Substitute Head for the English Language (Deputy International Grand Master) for the M.E.A.P.R.M.M. This is a huge responsibility and I am deeply honored.Of course, all of this presupposes that "Frank G. Ripel" and the MEARPMM website aren't more of Brad's inventions, as well.A little over a year ago, Cofield stepped up his activities, inventing a new pseudonym, Raum Sariel, and a new "lodge": Lodge Napoleon Bonaparte (perfectly named, both for the image of the vainglorious emperor himself, as well as the stereotypical psychotics who populate cartoons imagining themselves to be Napoleon).Cofield's branding catch phrase for his new style of Masonry is "Post-Modern Freemasonry." According to his Lodge Napoleon website,So, we had a few strong and dedicated Freemasons who all shared a common love, the Rite of Misraim. We all seemed to on [sic] opposite sides of the country, and even the globe. Email can only get you so far. Then a [sic] epiphany. Why not take on the approach of Fortune 500 companies with large virtual workforces? Virtual. As in "not real."It goes on to say,"You will have access to the most powerful membership web portal that has ever been in the Masonic world. This is no simple calender with email and a Php message board. This includes a full dashboard, access to hundreds of in depth educational files, case studies, power point educational presentations, recorded and streamed precise alchemical and magickal operations. Not to mention you'll never be alone."No, you sure won't, with all of Brad's alter-egos and imaginary friends to keep you company.The Lodge Napoleon FAQ states:A: Do I have to believe in God in order to join?Q: No. Once again we understand that someone does not have to be a believer in any dogma or institution in order to be able to receive the light of Freemasonry. In fact your belief or lack of is considered strictly your own. We don't even ask.Q: What Rituals do you use?A. We work in the original speculative Rite of Misraim and the operative Egyptian Rite.Q: In operative do you mean working with stone.A: No, those would be operative Stonemasons. We are operative Freemasons. What this means is we work in the operative magic Masonic arts. These include the physical alchemy of the Egyptian Rite.Q: What Grand Lodge do you belong to?A: None. As a Post-Modern lodge we do not see value in the Grand Lodge system. We do not recognize the authority of any Grand Lodge and thus we are not recognized by them.The 1613 Nation "Manifesto" explains,The 1613 Nation is not a grand lodge or orient. There is no grand master nor supreme council. The 1613 Nation is a co operational community guided by principle and held together by mutual benefit and respect.Then it goes on to explain that the rest of the pesky mainstream Masonic world is not practicing Freemasonry properly, and that his group has the true answer: "There is no greater lodge than the lodge of self. "Sorta says it all.His dozens of pretty websites that propagate like bunnies in a hutch all over the web are designed to look like he has scores of members and converts around the world to his "Post Modern Freemasonry," which he doesn't. He claims to have formed at least 18 lodges so far. He has simply snookered people in who don't know any better. With new interest in Freemasonry growing every day, and unsuspecting or unknowledgeable people stumbling onto his stuff, Cofield casts a growing net and convinces people that what he has is the real, authentic Freemasonry that the rest of us unsophisticated boobs in the Masonic world have callously discarded. In fact, Memphis Misraim Masonry has been a notorious degree peddling scheme since its beginnings in Europe. He has even gotten help, briefly, from talented people who have helped him create this tissue of deceit, who discover the truth after a while and walk away.The most recent development has to do with a purported 1613 Nation lodge allegedly formed in Belgium. Blog Maçonnique, an excellent and informative blog in French, authored by Grand Orient of Belgium Mason Jiri Pragman, reported in a posting A false "Loge Liberté Chérie" and other pseudo-Loges:The true Loge Liberté Chérie ["Beloved Liberty Lodge"] is particularly dear to the heart of the Belgian Freemasons Lodge since it symbolizes resistance against oppression. It was founded in 1943 by seven Belgian Freemasons deported as dissidents to a concentration camp, Emslandlager Esterwegen VII. It ceased work in 1944. Six of its seven founders died before [allied] liberation.But a visitor to the Blog Maçonnique now tells us the existence of a pseudo- Loge Liberté Chérie (www.liberte1613.tk) on the web (with a contact address in Olne, [misspelled] as "Olen"). It uses the seal of the original Lodge, adding various symbols (including Solomon's seal) and the reference 1613 Nation. The site is in very bad French. Brad has especially appealed to women who want to join Masonic lodges, but also men seeking a mixed, co-Mason experience. This is undoubtedly due to the relatively few feminine lodges quietly at work in the U.S. Women outside of Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. find it almost impossible to find feminine lodges in their areas. Brad's lofty promises and the appearance of a large and growing organization behind him make it seem like an ideal way to establish lodges outside of the biggest urban areas. Too late, they are discovering the truth behind his tall tales. And now they seem to be spreading the word.A talented gentleman named Darren Young helped to set up and design many of the 1613 Nation websites. Suddenly, this past Tuesday, a letter from Young, W:.M:. of Sanctum Sanctorum Lodge (in Scotland, if I am not mistaken) was posted by June Lennon, W:.M:. of Lodge Circumspect, in New York City. Both were "1613 Nation" lodges:In light of recent information and in order to save the names and reputations of the members of Lodge Sanctum Sanctorum, I have decided to remove the Lodge from affiliation with Sanctum Sanctorum with immediate affect.The reasons for this are many and I shall outline them below:The main administrator of the 1613 Nation- Brad Cofield is a charlatan basically. He has using different names such as "Raum Sariel" and "PD Black" and those are just the ones that are known, and pretending they are actual people.He has been making claims about a Belgian "Lodge Libertie Cherie" which was originaly a Masonic lodge created in a Prisoner of War Camp during WW2, being given the blessings and historical paper work of its last surviving founding member who was a past Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Belgium. This is in fact false. This lodge has not been given any such blessings, and the person he refers to as its last surviving member was not a founding member but joined after the war and was not a Grand Master of the Grand Orient. He has not passed on any historical documents whatsoever, and has been stated as such publicly by him.In relation to this lodge and one in France, he has made further claims that the WM of the Belgian lodge, Jose Magnee is setting up a "1613 Museum" in honour of the original Loge Libertie Cherie. This too is in fact false and has been stated so publicly by Jose Magnee, who has also denied being Worshipful Master of Lodge Libertie Cherie. There have also been claims of a school being set up in the Ivory Coast by these French and Belgian lodges, but again are untrue and have been fabricated.What these falsehoods have done is anger many people in France, Belgium and across Europe - which could be likely to have knock on effects to anyone associated with either the 1613 Nation and Brad Cofield.In the past couple of weeks at least two other lodges have also left due to all of this. One of the lodges that have left has also been assimilated by Cofield, which he claims he repopulated within 24 hours with new members, even though the lodge is an independent lodge and left the1613 Nation.Of course, it is up to yourselves if you wish to still be associated with the 1613 nation and Brad Cofield but I would suggest that you don't for the reasons stated. The lodge will continue, and if we wish, can look to affialiate with another body that is a legit organisation, one which I suggest in the A.P.R.M.M, which is very similar to what we do.I would also suggest, if you have Brad Cofield, Raum Sariel, or PD Black on your friend list on Facebook you remove them soon, and probaly block them or there is a chance of constant abusive messages, as he is a known internet stalker and can be abusive and threatening, of which he has been convicted of.Fraternally,Darren YoungJune Lennon and Lodge Circumspect have also fled Cofield's group, and have formed an independent lodge of women Freemasons. Further discussions of the topic have been heated on the San Diego Freemason blog, written by a member of Lodge New Isis #8 of the George Washington Union of Freemasons of North America, a co-Masonic lodge chartered in California by the Grand Orient of France.All of this is a tiny back alley in the world of regular, recognized Freemasonry. On the one hand, if someone finds that these irregular lodges offer them a different path that they prefer over what the overwhelming mainstream or Prince Hall lodges in the U.S. provide, God love 'em, and more power to them. They aren't welcome in my lodge, but they know in their hearts whether they are Freemasons or not. But the concern is that with literally millions of people now discovering Freemasonry for the first time, snake oil peddlers like Cofield sing a siren song and get them involved in an elaborate sham and practical joke. What started out as clearly an attempt to lash out at the Masons who gave him a poor experience in his first lodge (or who he just couldn't get along with, whatever the reason), has turned into an obsession for him. Mainstream and Prince Hall grand lodges need to know what he's up to in our back yards. And non-Masons hunting for more information about the fraternity need to be aware of his activities, as well.If you are looking to join the Freemasonry that is recognized the world over as regular and the legitimate heir to the traditions of the lodges that formed the first Grand Lodge in London in 1717, click here to find the grand lodge for your state or region. It also includes links to the historically African-American grand lodges of Prince Hall Freemasonry.If you are female and are looking for information about feminine Freemasonry, click here. The organizations listed have a long history and tradition, and are not fly by night internet inventions.And to read the very real story of the heroic Masons who founded Lodge Libertie Cherie behind the wire at Esterwegen concentration camp, see the English language translation on Wikipedia here. Cofield's attempts to steal that heritage from those men is beneath contempt.