For the Commanderies of Knights Templar, under the auspice of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the USA, hold each year a Christmas Observance and Easter Observance. The Christmas Observance should be held on the Sunday closest to Christmas Day, but this is not mandatory. The Easter Observance is to be held on Easter Sunday. At the Christmas Observance you have 5 toasts and responses from a representative (usually the presiding officer, but not always) from the Grand Encampment, your Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, Grand Council of Cryptic Masons, and Grand Commandery of Knights Templar. You also should have a program with a speaker which should obviously surround the story of Christ. This last Sunday I held mine and had a Past Grand Master of my Grand Lodge and Past Commander of my Commandery give a presentation which he shared the program with a Jobie. He spoke of the Christmas Carol and tied it to God's relationship with man and the passion of Christ. The Jobie told the Christmas Story intertwining the appropriate hymns. At the Easter Observance, usually you just have a guest speaker, but without the toasts. I think for my Easter Observance I'm going to include activities for the kids like an Easter Egg Hunt in the Lodge. My Commandery also holds an annual Groundhog's Day Breakfast where we raise funds for the Knights Templar Eye Foundation.
Check out my lengthy post on Freemasonry & the Founding of the United States. I do talk about the Presidents who have been Masons, going in reverse order. I talked about the Masons that signed the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Generals under Washington, and other famous Revolutionaries.
I am referring to the program that takes in an EA and spits out a MM. All in one day. (Then they usually just join the shrine and we never see them in blue lodge again.) I got mine the hard way.
Oh okay. That's what I thought you were talking about. I disagree with those Mason-in-a-Day programs. I received my degrees one at a time and did the proficiencies for each of them to progress.
I was looking into Free Masonry a year ago, and could not get any information from the local masons locally, Driven by the local place to see it slightly run down. I was wondering is there still an active group in Pharr Tx that are free masons that I can still get information from? - - - Updated - - - I was looking into Free Masonry a year ago, and could not get any information from the local masons locally, Driven by the local place to see it slightly run down. I was wondering is there still an active group in Pharr Tx that are free masons that I can still get information from?
Check out this Lodge Locator site. You can also email the Grand Secretary, Tommy Guest at: gs@grandlodgeoftexas.org
We had that program in New York about 9 years ago; They only kept it for one year and it was abolished since it was felt that the Brother lost a lot of the meaning of the degrees. Like you, I got mine the hard way but the best way.
Freemasonry has always struck me as a kind of structurally complex and mystery-based massively multiplayer role-playing game - only the "world" overlaps into our REAL LIFE one vs. merely a virtual one. If that makes any sense??? I don't mean that to be an either negative or positive assessment. It's just the way it comes across and settles out in my mind. I guess my impression has to do with its intricate structure, mysterious and secretive nature, odd sounding names for things, conspiracy theories, etc. Ya know what I mean??? Please understand that I'm not trying to be offensive or critical - just describing my collected gut impressions. I should add that I'm also quite ignorant of the matter which probably explains everything. Plus, I consider that what people choose to do or not do as pretty much none of my business (not to mention that it's 3:30 am and I can't sleep LOL).
There is an excellent website where most if not all of your questions can be answered. I'm not sure if forum rules will allow me to post the link, but If your interested, PM me and i'll provide the link.
LOL...I get what you're saying. Our structure can be complex and sometimes it borders on insanity trying to sort it all out.
Structure wise, each Grand Lodge is sovereign so each one has its own variance, but outside the Lodge and into the different Rites its gets very complicated because each body is controlled differently in each country. Why this is? That would take a book on the evolution of each body, degree, and order.
Just a few questions. Apologies in advance in case any of these questions are obvious. 1) Can you be Scottish Rite / York Rite at the same time? 2) Is it true that the 3rd degree really is the highest and that the others are just "extra" degrees with no extra authority conferred? 3) How hard is it to become a 33rd degree, given that this is supposedly an honorary degree? I think there are only 175 33rd degree Scottish Rite Masons in the UK. 4) How many Masons take the esoteric side seriously, as opposed to the social aspect? 5) Is it true that Masonry does not officially recognize organizations such as the Rosicrucian Order / AMORC? As in that you cannot belong to both? Even though Rosicrucianism seems to have had an influence on Masonry when you look at the names of one or two of the degrees. 6) What does Jah-Bul-On mean? Seriously. I read The Brotherhood by Stephen Knight a couple of years ago and nobody seemed to like talking about it.
No worries at all. Yes. I am in both Rites. I am much more active in the York Rite though, but I am the Prelate/Chaplain of the Lodge of Perfection (first Scottish Rite body). Correct. The Blue Lodge is truly the center of it all. Well, speaking from knowledge of the American system, it takes years. You must first be a Master Mason to join the Scottish Rite. Once you attain the 32nd degree (which can happen in a weekend) you must be invited to the KCCH, but you must first be a 32nd for around 4-years before that can happen. Once you have been a member of the KCCH for 4-years you then must be invited to become a 33rd. I also believe you must be at least 33-years of age, but I cannot remember. There are also active and honorary 33rds. There are only 33 active 33rds who compose the Supreme Council that govern the Scottish Rite. There are hundreds of 33rds in the US, and there are two Supreme Councils in the US. The Northern Jurisdiction composes of US states East of the Mississippi River and North of the Ohio River. The rest belongs to the Southern Jurisdiction. I don't know the statistics, but I know the younger crowd has become more interested than the older crowd, but that is another issue. Masonry has its own Rosicrucian Order called the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF). The AMORC is its own organization and Freemasons are allowed to join to the best of my knowledge, but that organization enjoys no affiliation with the Masonic fraternity. If you join the AMORC you are not qualified to be invited to the SRICF. Stephen Knight attempts to defame Freemasonry through the Royal Arch, but fabricates that we use 3 words to describe a "masonic god". Chris Haffner rips Knights theories apart in a very interesting manner in his book "Workman Unashamed".
Thanks for the replies. To be honest Stephen Knight seemed relatively impartial to me. I don't think he harmed Masonry in the UK by writing the Brotherhood, although it caused some debate at the time. The more ridiculous publications have come about more recently, such as the William Schnoebelen books (which on reading extracts seem to border on the insane). All the Masons I've met have been decent men, I simply read The Brotherhood due to it being well known.
Far too many insane minds quote Knight even though he never actually provides any sources to back up his assertions. Bill Schnoebelen is a kook. If you make a graphic representation of the timeline from his own book, you'd see this:
Here is a question: I see some buildings called "Masonic Halls" or "Masonic Lodges", and some called "Masonic Temples". Is there any real difference, is it a regional thing, or are the terms more or less interchangeable?
Good Lord today was a busy day. 0530 wake-up to get prepared for my Commandery's annual Groundhogs Day Breakfast which is one of our fundraisers for two of the Templar charities: the Knights Templar Eye Foundation and the Holy Land Pilgrimage. We made nearly $575 in donations after paying for all the groceries and we had a great turnout. My officers and some Past Commanders came in force to help out and I did my Commander duties of greeting people and mingling among the crowd. After cleaning this all up, I relaxed for a bit before attending an installation of officers for one of the Job's Daughter Bethels. Then I went and did my taxes. I am so tired. I have a few days off before I have any more Masonic activities...so time to relax.
Al Queda, The Muslim brotherhood, the Khymer Rouge, The Chinese Communist party, The Czarist secret police, the Roman Catholic church, The Nazis, Fundamentalist Bible thumpers, Jack Chick and a host of other bad guys hate Freemasonry. We have to be doing something right.
Don't forget Hamas, the Iranian government, Mussolini and the Fascists, and General Franco of Spain. The list goes on.
