The Tao of Masonry

It’s an overcast Saturday afternoon in the middle of January, there’s six inches of snow on the ground, and the temperature is 17º F. So, what do you do for fun?

2009 Sloper Polar Plunge

Well, if you’re from Friendship Lodge, apparently you take a dip in the lake.

Friendship’s new Worshipful Master Eric Charrette, accompanied by a chilly suite of officers, took on his second “Polar Plunge” in a week to help raise funds for Camp Sloper, the the local YMCA camp. The polar plunge took place at the camp’s small lake, Sloper Pond. Known locally as the home of a semi-ficticious chelonian, a snapping turtle by the name of Mama Cass, the pond was the scene of several dozen people (accompanied by several hundred warmer supporters) willing to brave the elements – specifically, the frigid air and freezing water.

Each volunteer had to commit to a minimum of $100 in cold, hard cash, to be used for the upkeep and maintenance of the popular camp. Several local organizations sent their hardiest, or certainly, their craziest members. Friendship Lodge, which raised about $550 toward the camp benefit, was one of several other local organizations that managed to raise almost $2,000 for the camp, now in it’s 60th year of operation.

WB Eric was joined by RWB Gary Arseneau, Senior Deacon Kevin Cyr, and John Miller, Senior Warden from Frederick-Franklin No. 14 in Plainville, all of whom spent about 30 seconds in the water. . . and then another 30 minutes warming up afterward.

And according to Kevin Cyr, the adage that you don’t feel cold because the water is warmer than the air is a complete myth. “It was like thousands of stinging needles,” he reported. And while everyone agreed, they all offered to jump in again.

It’s the joyous season here in Connecticut… no, not the season that you’re thinking of; that’s passed already. Sweaters and blenders have been returned, the last of the turkey, ham, or goose has been eaten, and there are more needles on the carpet than on the tree. No, as the Masonic year generally coincides with the calendar year (give or take a month, depending upon the lodge), it’s now Installation season. Out with the old and in with the new!

The Installations of officers are often semi-public events here in Connecticut. I can hear some of our brethren in other areas gasping for breath, but really, now that we’ve pretty much shown everything on the History Channel and You-Tube, why is this an issue anymore? In my area, the “secrets of the chair” are imparted several weeks beforehand, which obviates one of the needs to hold an Installation in a tyled lodge. Just before the Installation ceremony itself, the lodge is tyled and the outgoing Master opens the lodge for the last time and then goes to Refreshment. The then fun begins, and afterward, the new Master closes the lodge.

Some members still prefer a closed ceremony, but I submit that it’s a great way for a man to introduce his friends and family to his lodge; if only to show that his brothers and fellow members are a great bunch of guys to work with. Indeed, most new Masters are rather proud to have been elected to lead a lodge, and it’s quite natural for them to want to show it off. Accordingly, Installations – at least for those who have not done it several times over – are often held on a weekend and a large reception party is held afterward.

I was Master in 2006, which means that I’ve been out of an office for almost as long as I’ve held an office. This makes me “a moss-backed, old turtle” according to some members of Friendship Lodge, several of whom had better be careful or I’ll smash their tail lights with my walker. But having been out of office for a while is giving me some interesting perspectives on why Past Masters develop the not-totally-undeserved reputation that invariably follows them. These new guys are, well, new, dammit! They do things differently than I did. I worked hard at changing some of the old, boring, inefficient things that Masters before me had done, and now, these upstarts come along and change things that I did.

And good for them! Friendship is an active lodge with a lot of younger members who are generally happy to participate. For years now, we’ve had every officer’s chair filled, and have often had a backlog of people waiting to get into the officer’s line. I can’t imagine that people around here are interested because we keep doing the same old thing all the time.

Some time between Christmas and New Year, we installed Brother – Worshipful Brother Eric into the big chair. I’m very proud of WB Eric. He is one of the first people that I, as a new officer, helped to conduct around the lodge. Now, understand that I’m not a particularly large guy. When I met Eric, he was a very young, very nervous, and very big guy. My job was to guide him through his initiation, which involved wrestling him around the small lodge room, and trying to keep a grip on his arm through the copious amounts of sweat. Think “tugboat” and “ocean liner”, and you’ve got the picture.

Anyway, after having my tux cleaned, Eric and I became friendly. It’s been a pleasure to see him go from being nervous and shy, to becoming a planner and organizer, and someone who can talk about his goals and aspirations. When I was a Junior Warden, Eric was at my right hand, and remained there until I was out of the East, passing from Senior Steward to Junior Deacon, to Senior Deacon. Each year, each position, saw a little growth and maturity, and I’ve been proud of him ever since.

Look well the the East, Worshipful Eric. I’m sure that you’ll do a great job.

One of the things that in a way is comforting about Freemasonry is that you can depend upon your lodge meeting at the same day and time, all the time. It’s one of those conditions that to Masons are, if you’ll excuse the pun, written in stone. Some lodges have been meeting at the same time for over a century, and it wouldn’t surprise me to go back through the archives to see that some lodges have been doing so for more than two. And a member who hasn’t been to lodge in a dozen years can feel secure in knowing that, should he decide to drag himself down to the old building, there will be a meeting there just waiting for him.

Lodges that have merged with others may need to change their meeting times to those of the larger lodge. Lodges that have sold their building and now meet in rented space have to change meeting nights in order to accommodate changes in building and hall schedules. I often wonder if such changes shake up the fundamental relationship that members have to their lodge; I’ve noticed that quite often members of a merged lodge do not show up as frequently after the merger. To be fair, it’s probably more than just the time – they have to come into a new building and meet new people, and of course, do things a different way.

Friendship Lodge is in downtown Southington, right on the town green. Southington was much more rural many years ago, and like many New England towns has slowly become a suburb, with strip plazas, convenience stores, and all styles of restaurants. Over the last few years, the downtown (really, about a 3 block area) has become “revitalized” with cobblestone sidewalks, some upscale curio shoppes, and a number of eating and drinking establishments, all of which seem to be busy throughout the week. And during the warm weather months, the town sponsors a weekly Music on the Green, a mobile bandstand and amplification equipment for the use by various local bands. On any given Wednesday from May until October, one can hear (from several blocks away) musical genres ranging from Abba to ZZ Top. The crowds gather early, and the mood is festive, and people manage to have a great time wandering around.
On Wednesday evenings.

Friendship Lodge, of course, meets the first and third Wednesday of each month. About 75 feet from the bandstand.

You see where this is going, right?

Degree work should be somber and inspire contemplation, a condition which is not enhanced when, for example, during one’s obligation the WM has to speak up to be heard over such catchy tunes as “Mama Mia” or “She’s Got Legs.”

Parking in the downtown area is limited, and while the lodge owns property behind the building, we lease it back to the town, which keeps it paved and plowed. In the last year or so, the restaurant traffic has made the parking  lot full most of the time, which is great for the local business, but not good for the older brothers who don’t want to fight the traffic and crowds, and who often have to park several blocks away. The situation became worse (for them) this past year when a very good, and now very popular, restaurant opened in the building next door.

Accordingly, some of the brothers, the younger officers, actually, have proposed changing our meeting nights to the first and third Mondays. This way we have no conflict with the Music on the Green crowds, and since most restaurants are closed on Mondays anyway, it would make parking much easier for those who might be put off by the long walk.

Personally, I haven’t made up my mind if this is a good plan or not. I think that in terms of access to the lodge, it’s a great idea. I do worry, however, that some members will be put off – especially those that may have other meetings or events that they usually schedule on Mondays.  Will changing the meeting day affect the fundamental character of Friendship Lodge? I don’t know. We’re going to be talking about it, and voting on whether or not to change our by-laws at an upcoming meeting. This should make for some interesting discussion.

A1: The lights never went out in my year!
A2: Hey, my grandfather donated that light bulb!
A3: Why should we change it? It always worked before.
A4: Light bulb? In my year, all we had were candles.

Once a year, on the second Tuesday of December, the Past Masters of Friendship Lodge No. 33, along with the Past Masters of Harmony No. 20 of New Britain (which merged with Friendship back in the 1990s), and any other Past Master that happens to be within asking range gather together for an evening of complaining conviviality and story-telling, and of course, eating and drinking.

Friendship Lodge Past Master’s Dinner 2008

Like many new Masons, I figured that all lodges were like Friendship, and I had some eye-opening moments when I started visiting and really watching what happens in some other lodges. In Friendship Lodge, those “old Past Masters” do not sit around the lodge hemming and harrumphing, complaining about the state of ritual or how things were done “back in my year.” And we are very fortunate in that we only “repeat” a Past Master through the chairs about once every 25 or 30 years – a fact to which I can attest, having checked the dates once.

Oh, there’s no question that some of our PMs are active. Sometimes one will stay on as a Chaplain, and we always have them serving as a Treasurer and Secretary. Our PMs run the Trowel Club picnics and several other functions. The most recent PM is usually the Trowel Club President, and will take charge of the Past Master degree (usually a MM degree held in the fall). And the next to last PM gets stuck running the annual Past Master’s Dinner.

Because our lodge is active, we do like to joke that the PMs are no longer needed; at each annual dinner, we award the outgoing WM with a new name tag which he is to wear after the next WM is installed. It symbolizes the esteem in which he will be held as a new PM.

It’s a Friendship Lodge badge, with the name section left blank. His new title becomes “Worshipful Nobody.”

Yes, of course it’s a joke – but there is a certain poignancy to this. For one thing, it takes several months just to get used to people addressing you as “Worshipful;” whenever I heard that title, I kept looking around for somebody else. For another thing, many of us who have served as the WM of a lodge – especially an active lodge like ours – you have a very full year, what with all the programs, meetings, visiting, degrees, dinners, and the constant phone calls and emails from people who need to check in, ask an opinion, get permission, or ask questions. You are the center of attention, most of it good, for an entire year – generally starting about 10 minutes after your installation ceremony. People look to you and look up to you for twelve solid, non-stop months.

And then, suddenly, it all stops.

I can well understand that some PMs may try to recapture a bit of that sense of importance by nitpicking ritual, or by reminding people of the customs and traditions which they, the PMs observed. In lodges that do not have a constant inflow of new officers, PMs always have an opportunity to fill in a chair, but in active lodges, I wonder how many PMs simply drop out of sight after a few years, from feeling as if they they have nothing further to contribute?

As the District Grand Lecturer, it’s my job – in fact, my only official function – to observe a potential Master open a lodge, receive a dignitary, go to refreshment, come back to labor, and then close a lodge. If he does is by the book (or at least, pretty close to what they believe might be in the book), then I declare them certifiable certified for ritual, and they have fulfilled that particular requirement in order to sit in the big chair at the East end of the room.

In the year and a half that I’ve been doing this, the weirdest thing for me was to certify a member of my affiliate lodge, Chip Stamm. Why was that weird? Because not only is he a Past Master, he is also a Past Grand Master. But rules are rules, and there’s no reason that former Grand Lodge officers should be exempt from them, right?

Anyway, I figured that would be about the weirdest thing that I would face in my current duties, and frankly, I haven’t thought much about it since last year.

Until now.

A couple of months ago I was at a GL Seminar given for incoming Masters. After the seminar, I was outside the door selling books, trinkets, car decals, and the various other things that we Masons like to buy, when a tall gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and said “Tom, can you get me your contact information?”

“Sure thing, Bro. Jake,” I responded. I wrote my phone number and email down on a notepad and handed him the paper. “Don’t tell me,” I joked, “You need me to come up and certify you for ritual, right?”

He smiled. . . well, more like winced.

“Yeah, it looks like I might be going to the East again,” he said.

My jaw dropped open. You see, Bro. Jake – that is, Right Worshipful Jake – was the District Grand Lecturer who certified me.

Back then, the DGLs didn’t have much of a job. It wasn’t until the end of 2005 that Connecticut made ritual certification a requirement, so there are a number of other Grand Lodge officers who have not had a ritual certification because they weren’t planning to be Master of a lodge.

Anyway, that’s how I ended up at Evening Star 101 on one of their degree rehearsals.

I remember this time three years ago, when I was one of the first Senior Wardens to be certified. RW Jake visited, along with a couple of District Deputies, an Associate Grand Marshal, and the GL officer for our district. A few Past Masters dropped by, and some of the junior officers were on the sidelines. In contrast, Jake and I just grabbed a table in the corner and went back and forth, with the both of us playing all the parts. We were done in 10 minutes, the quickest I’ve ever seen it in my short career. Afterwards, I went upstairs to watch them rehearse for a Master Mason degree.

Yes, he passed.

I like Evening Star lodge; while it doesn’t have the cadre of younger members that Friendship does, it has a down-home, meat & potatoes feel to it that is comforting. Being on the edge of the more rural area of Hartford County, I can imagine that the lodge hasn’t changed much in a generation or two – not in the sense of being stagnant, but in the good way, in that you know that things will be done right, with a minimal of fuss and fussiness that one often see in other lodges.

I’m looking forward to visiting next year; I know that they will have a Master who is experienced, and who has a good sense of humor.

Sometimes internet life takes the strangest turns. Despite the fact that I have written a number of essays on various topics of interest to the 23 regular readers who frequent this blog (none of them being from my own lodge, let alone from Connecticut), the single topic search that attracts the most visitors to this blog – yes, even more than anything to do with religious Anti-Masons, Illuminati/NWO konspiracy theories, our Zeta-Reticulan overlords protectors, or even the Southington Apple Harvest Festival – is “Masonic Tattoo.”

I kid thee not.

About two and a half years ago, I ran across the Masonic Ink web site, and me being just childish enough to think the idea was cool, I wrote a small blog about it, called “Not your grandfather’s Square & Compasses.” I followed that up a year later when I discovered that some of my brother Masons right here in Connecticut had some pretty cool skin art, not the least of them being the Grand Master himself; Most Worshipful Bill Greene, who graciously allowed me to feature it in the article.

Since then, my visits from web searches on some variation of “Masonic Tattoos” have steadily increased. More impressive, though, is the growth of the Masonic Ink website. Started as an offshoot of “The Master’s Jewel,” a site that sold Masonic jewelry, it had only a few dozen pics a couple of years ago; it now rocks the body mod world with almost 700 pictures in close to 200 galleries. More interesting, though, is that the variety of pictures show a lot of members who are anything but gray-haired, moss-backed, old turtles, testifying to the resurgence of Masonry among the younger crowd.

So naturally, I was pleased when the October issue of our own state publication, The Connecticut Freemason, featured a two-page, full-color spread about the body ink amongst our own brothers, accompanied by a several page article. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that several of our own not only wear the ink, but do the artwork: Chriss Finalis, Mark Roberts, and Michael Jay, all of whom have studios in different parts of the Nutmeg State.

Of course, they copped my shot of Grand Master Bill’s tattoo, but I guess it’s understandable, as most of the other Grand Line officers don’t have Masonic Ink. There are, however, several purple-aproned Masonically inked brothers. But you’ll have to read the article to discover who.

I could end this article right now, but that would be one-sided. Last year, I had an anonymous comment on my Grand Tattoo article that appeared to have been left by a brother Mason who objected to the idea of tattoos as intemperate and excessive. While I personally disagree, believing that – as expressed in our charges – it is the internal, and not the external qualifications of a man that is the most important, I can understand that some people grew up in an era which regarded such outward displays as unseemly. And that’s okay, we are a big fraternity, and there is room for disagreement.

Surprisingly, though, our state publication (which receives very little in the way of “Letters to the Editor”) has had some feedback to the effect that some members did not appreciate the featured tattoos, and especially not the full color front page picture. While I know this because I happen to be a member of the committee that publishes The Connecticut Freemason, I would have liked to have been able to discuss the issue with those who objected, if only to offer them equal time to present an opposing viewpoint.

Anyway, one would imagine that, having had a couple of years to think about it, I’d have my own tattoo now, perhaps even displayed in the October issue, right? Unfortunately, no. The truth is that while I’d really like one, I have not yet hit on a design that I think that I would be happy with when I’m, say, 80 years old.

Essentially, this is what has kept me from getting any tattoo; frankly, I’ve had a hard time imagining liking anything enough to want it for the next 20 or 30 years, especially not being able to get rid of the thing.

I have to stop writing now. My wife, who had been reading this over my shoulder, said that she needs to have a word with me. Something about being lucky if I live for the next 20 or 30 years. . .

Not all Grand Masters are heads of a Grand Lodge.

Sci-Fi maven Cory Doctorow’s freaky & fascinating blog Boing Boing has a mention of a brother who is a Grand Master of a different obedience.

HIS NAME is Grand Master Priest Faustus, and I had the honor of seeing him perform at the 215 Festival on Friday at the Society of Free Letts, where he appeared as part of Patrick Borelli and Douglas Gorenstein’s “Holy Headshot” project.

HE IS, frankly, the poppingest, lockingest Freemason I have ever met, and also a contemporary of many of the men who invented things like popping and locking. (He did not invent Freemasonry, however. HE IS NOT IMMORTAL. But he did have an amazing square and compass belt buckle, which started our discussion of The Craft)

There is a little more discussion in the Comments section below the main post, and a follow-up post from later today.

What strikes me is that it’s no longer surprising to see that Freemasons have a wide range of ages and interests. Although one commenter did quip “It’s not your grandfather’s Masonry” (making me wonder if he was quoting my post from a couple of years ago about Masonic Ink), more of the responders – several of them members of the Craft – were quick to point out that Masons are not all a bunch of fossils.

I’d write more, but I’m a little sore from break dancing at the all-night rave over the weekend.

Our family spent the weekend in New York City, just doing a little sight-seeing and soaking up the local color. Expecting rain and cold, we dressed like typical New Englanders, but were pleasantly surprised when the rain held off for most of Saturday. Having spent the afternoon wallowing in little souvenir shops in Chinatown, and late lunching at an open-air bistro in Little Italy, we spent the evening getting culture-fied at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the Upper East side of Central Park.

When I was in my 20s, I used to take a lot of trips into New York City, and spent most of my time in the lower island browsing shops and bookstores, eating in odd restaurants, clubbing in SoHo and Greenwich Village. And once a year I’d get together with a few of my friends and we would tackle the Five Borough Bike Tour, a 25 to 30 mile route that started in Battery Park and finished in Staten Island. Once or twice, the cold, wet spring rains determined us to seek shelter from the rigors of the seasons; we might have dropped out early from the inclemencies of the weather to seek solace in the local watering holes. But those are stories for other days.

When you live in a small New England town (are there any other kind?), you can easily be overwhelmed by the majesty of the architecture in a big city. We stayed in an area that had a mix of old brownstone mansions (converted into co-op housing) and new granite faced behemoths. Thirty years ago, I’d never given much thought to the decoration and ornament on those old buildings, but – as I imagine happens to every Mason – I now marveled at the work and detail that went into the various columns on the buildings, old and new.

Even more inspiring was the architecture of the outside of the older section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From Columns

Need I say more?

Okay, then how about a taste of the inside?

From Columns

We simply do not see things built to this kind of scale in our small ex-farming communities.

In one of those synchronistic linkings, just a few weeks ago I rehearsed a section from a lecture pertaining to columns such as these, so I might have been just a little more attuned to noticing them in passing than I otherwise might have been. Coincidentally, by the time we got to the galleries, there was a rather nasty storm raging outside, so the opportunity to seek shelter from the inclemencies of the weather was not lost on us.I enjoyed the opportunity to point out little details to my daughter, after which we spent some time in the inevitable museum gift shop.

As it happens, the Met has a wonderful gallery filled with a number of similar items, plus several entire rooms devoted to the art and sculpture from that period. I know that most of my brethren think of visiting famous lodges when on a trip to NYC, but hopefully I’ve suggested a curious way to spend an afternoon before those lodges are in session.

For several years now I’ve gone to Grand Lodge sessions, and each time I’m amazed that a majority of the people attending get there just a few minutes early, and then leave as soon as the gavel bangs the meeting closed. Okay, I’ve never been much of a fan of sitting in meetings, especially meetings in which other people do the talking. In fact, I can imagine that for a lot of people, Grand Lodge sounds like this:

“Blah blah blah… declare the session open … blah blah blah… welcome to the two hundred and mumblety mumbleth annual… blah blah blah… welcome the Past Grand … blah blah blah… presentation by Masonicare… blah blah blah… elections for the next year… blah blah blah… the proposed budget includes … blah blah blah… lack of membership… blah blah blah… new programs will include… blah blah blah… show our appreciation to … blah blah blah… results of the voting… blah blah blah… congratulations to … blah blah blah… please inform the Grand Tyler… blah blah blah… Thank you all for coming.”  BANG

Even though it ended a half hour earlier than anyone had expected, some people zoomed out of there so quickly that I thought we were serving free donuts in the lobby.

I don’t get that. For me, the best part about Grand Lodge is the hour before and the hour after the actual meeting; this is the time to get together with people that you don’t normally see every month, to renew old acquaintances, and to hear about what’s happening in other lodges and in other parts of the state. There are not a lot of ways that the Grand Lodge can communicate ideas about its various programs until after they are instituted – which, to my way of thinking – is usually to late. People on various committees who talk about new ideas with the Craft are in a position to get input. The flip side, of course, is that the Craft – that’s you and me – manages to have some input at the planning stage. And, this is the opportunity to meet those junior Grand Lodge officers who are going to be leading the Craft one day.

Additionally, I get to see other District Grand Lecturers so that we can complain discuss the issues in our districts. I have also found that there are a number of old-timers who are full of ideas and opinions – but good ones – and I enjoy talking to them and getting some feedback. And truth be told, I also enjoy listening to the latest gossip news about various lodges and officers and the people I’ve met.

In current business parlance, this is known as “networking.” Now, networking has developed a bad rep, mainly because people imagine a room full of insurance brokers and used car salesmen who are trying to get you to buy something that you don’t want. But consider: we explain to our Fellowcrafts that the pillars representing  Strength and Establishment are adorned with net work because it represents “unity.” And truly, how can we have unity – that is, a cohesive Craft – if members on one end of the state don’t know (or don’t care) what is happening at the other end?

When talking with a few other brothers after the meeting, it came up that very few people had – according to the poll on the Grand Lodge website – visited lodges outside of Connecticut. That led another wag to note that most Masons don’t even visit other lodges inside Connecticut.

Brothers – what’s up with that?

Before a member is even raised, we are talking to him about visiting other lodges. “Wait until you’re a Master Mason,” we love to tell them. “You’ll go to all those other lodges and see how other people do things,” we explain. It’s as if other lodges are foreign countries. In fact, part of our degree ceremonies here in Connecticut do allude to traveling in foreign parts, and how that is one of the benefits of being a Master Mason.

So why do so few of us actually take advantage of that privilege?

Sure, sometimes there is a time factor. Many of us barely make time for our own lodges, even when we know what the schedule will be. Members with a family – or a life – are already juggling evenings off. In my own family, my daughter has music lessons, Girl Scouts, and tutoring, my wife has church meetings, and I have a few non-Masonic duties each month, and I imagine that many families are not much different.

Yet I’m still amazed at the number of masons that I talk to who have never – as in, you know, never - visited another lodge. Others have gone once or twice, but “not in years,” or only for some special program. Simple curiosity isn’t enough to get somebody out of the house and into another lodge once or twice a year?

The underlying attitude that puzzles me – actually, that bothers me – is that too often I get the impression that many members forget that we are all part of a larger organization. I understand that some members feel very strongly connected to their own lodge, and that could possibly be a reason that they do not have much interest in the lodges around them. But still, why bother even mentioning “the ability to travel” if you are not going to avail yourself of the opportunity?

For that matter, why not simply remain a Fellowcraft?

Nothing much to report, except that last night Friendship had a Moving Party Move Up Night in which Bro. Eric assumed the Oriental Chair. Eric has taken on more responsibilities over the last year, and it’s going to be a pleasure watching him as Master.

As expected in Friendship, all of the officers did a great job in their parts. I’m always proud to see our newest members step up to take smaller parts, and last night, I noticed that everyone who did so made the effort to put some animation and – dare I say it? – enthusiasm into their various parts.

We split up the Middle Chamber (aka: the Staircase) lecture, with four brothers stepping in to assist the JD. We’ve done this before at Friendship, and personally, I prefer this. In the US, it’s common for some lodges to put a large burden on a junior officer to memorize this one, 30 minute long lecture filled with arcane usage and words known only to sesquipedalians. The problem that I frequently see is that the poor guy is so focused on the memorization that most of the time the lecture ends up being monotonous. And while old-timers might see one’s ability to memorize 20 pages as a pre-requisite for serving as Master of a lodge, I can think of at least a few other skills that would be more useful.

From Visiting Bros

And it was nice to see one of our old friends who made an hour-long trip to support Bro. Eric, even though he had to be wheeled in on a hand truck.