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Post by windtimber on May 26, 2013 22:22:36 GMT
A relatively quick Google search will turn up several 19th Century Masonic Songbooks available for free downloading in PDF format. Most of them use common tunes with uniquely Masonic texts. We don't sing much, but have been toying with the idea of reinvigorating the custom. The messages in the lyrics are generally good...and there's nothing wrong with singing. It's a great group exercise!
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Post by windtimber on Jan 6, 2012 3:59:40 GMT
In my lodge their names are Merrill, Albert, and Jim. Unless somebody is absent. Then Troy stands in for Merrill, Dick for Jim, and Bill for Merrill.
Yeah, I'm making a joke. Handle it.
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Post by windtimber on Oct 26, 2011 1:33:31 GMT
The Governor of the State of South Dakota is Dennis Daugaard, pronounced "Due-Guard." But I doubt that has anything to do with the question. He's not a Freemason as far as I know.
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Post by windtimber on May 2, 2011 21:31:13 GMT
Maybe it's incense...then again, considering the tools over on the left hand side, maybe it's something else. Why do you say that ? Because of the tools on the left side IS why it is a good indicator that it is incense . The working tools of a Royal Arch Mason and incense play a part during the Royal Arch Degree . Could you elaborate as to why it would be something else because of the tools ? Only curious as to your thoughts on this . I could, but prefer not to on a public board nor with someone "who is not a well known brother." Feel free to contact me privately if you'd like.
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Post by windtimber on May 1, 2011 21:06:13 GMT
Thank you for the addition, cotton was just my strongest inclination at the time. Incense would make much more sense as cotton isnt usualy seen flying. Ah, incense... Maybe it's incense...then again, considering the tools over on the left hand side, maybe it's something else. Hallucinogenic incense? The traditional, speculative Masonry in which I work uses the mind, not pharmacology, to reach a higher plane. I presume your father's and grandfather's Masonry eschewed the use of hallucinogens as well.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 28, 2011 2:07:40 GMT
...What I want to know is: were these "pennies" actually legal tender? Were they in general circulation amongst the populace or were they only distributed and kept as the "token' of "grip, sign and...") among Freemasons? There's literal; there's esoteric; there are some things that are only learned through ritual initiation. Lacking the third point, one never knows if they are looking too far in either of the other two directions.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 25, 2011 22:39:14 GMT
Awwwwwww, rats! macb gave it away. Now we can't watch the various speculations.
Of course, those blobs and the pot on the right are still unidentified...how about we let 'em speculate on those for while?
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Post by windtimber on Apr 23, 2011 22:05:26 GMT
It does, doesn't it? But the fact is, Qabalah gives you a comprehensive understanding of symbolism, which plays a HUGE role in Freemasonry; most Freemasons can only "parrot' what they were told in Lodge, while an "outsider' learned in Qabalah can more or less read Masonic symbolism like a BOOK. Well, no offense, but your "read[ing] Masonic symbolism like BOOK" isn't quite working as regards the specific question posited in this thread. Also, while you make the indictment that "most Freemasons can only 'parrot' what they were told in Lodge" you would well be surprised by the depth of insight demonstrated by many traditional Freemasons. Introspection and humility, both taught by our rituals, keep many tongues, appropriately, silent.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 22, 2011 21:15:37 GMT
"[T]he imagery on these items likely varies, as I said, from Lodge to lodge, and so serves as an "identification" token."
The imagery does vary, but not by Lodge. They do "identify" something. But are not for identification.
Oh, by the way, you're making the symbols in the center too complicated.
Have fun.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 17, 2011 22:40:30 GMT
Well, you can go through the rituals and proficiencies as slowly or as quickly as your ability and the lodge allows. That in itself will not necessarily provide a revelation. 20+ years post-initiation and I'm still having epiphanies relative to Freemasonry, mankind, and my spiritual life. Patience, introspection, and study are the watchwords.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 17, 2011 2:55:11 GMT
Actually I am talking about the items to the left of the central keystone, the pick crossed by a shovel and a "crow". The other, to the right, looks like an urn of some sort; the smaller details hovering above it are not clear. OK. The tools are easy. The other items...well, you've got a ways to go. You are right, the central image includes scissors, or SHEARS, more accurately ("scissors" have two equal-sized finger-holes, "shears' have one large and one small). The three items appear to be shears, square and a tape measure. I am wondering if this has something to do with a sail-making guild or something...I don't believe a 'square' would be a part of a tailor's collection of tools (despite the fact that fabric must be "on grain" before it is cut, or else the finished garment will 'torque' around the body) but it might be for a maker of sails, since they worked with very large pieces of cloth... But why are they there and what possible connection to Freemasonry do they have? Keep trying. But, I am quite satisfied that I, a non-Mason, correctly identified the "penny" itself as being associated with HRA Freemasonry OK, good for you.; the imagery on these items likely varies, as I said, from Lodge to Lodge, and so serves as an "identification" token. Wrong, more or less.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 16, 2011 21:40:32 GMT
My partner's token looks different from this but the basic design is much the same; the symbols are different but most are just as obscure (presumably HRA Lodges each have their own "token designs" peculiar to each Lodge). I still say that those are NOT 'scissors; if you look closely you will see that it is a crossed pick, shovel, and a "crow"(crowbar) all together, representing the tools employed in the particular Rite of the HRA, just as the hammer, square and compass, are the tools peculiar to Blue Rite Freemasonry Look at the larger image. Note the items in the center of the coin. Scissors, tape measure, and square. You're warm on the items to the left and right. Not even close on the items in the center. And by the way, I'm not intending any insults to you or anyone by my comments. I applaud your research efforts and interest in the craft. Just enjoying the flow of the conversation.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 16, 2011 0:58:00 GMT
OK, this has been real amusing to watch, but you're all missing the boat. Go back and read the original post and my response about 75% of the way down page 1.
This a a chapter penny from a US Royal Arch chapter. I presume the chapter in Mankato, MN, as referenced by the original poster. Anybody who's gone through the US version of the Royal Arch [And maybe someplace else...I only know the US ritual.] will know how chapter pennies turn up in the Mark Master degree. They'll also have a pretty good idea about the scissors, etc. in the center.
No, those particular items are not of exact Masonic significance. They are of significance to an individual Freemason - the original owner of the coin.
The tools and the pot and "blobs" do have specific meanings in US York Rite work. You want to know exactly what it all means?
Join a lodge, get raised a Master Mason, petition for membership in a Royal Arch Chapter [and a Council of Cryptic Masons and a Commandery of Knights Templar to fill out your education], and you'll find out.
In the meantime, I'll enjoy continuing to read your speculations.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 8, 2011 21:43:08 GMT
Here's a portion of an article I wrote some time back that may address the original poster's quotation from Carl Claudy and the tenor of the comments thereafter:
In the late 1960s, a time of noted decline in our gentle craft, many influential thinkers predicted that the divine, however defined, would lose ground to the secular in a pluralistic, modern world. That idea came into broad discussion with Harvey Cox’s 1965 best seller, The Secular City, celebrating the advent of secular, urban civilization and the inexorable decline of traditional religious/moral value systems.
By the late 1980s Cox had renounced his thesis. Peter Berger, director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University, also rethought his presumptions and by 1999 had published The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Moving from his previous secular, urban view Berger now states “The assumption that we live in a secularized world is false. The world is as furiously religious as it ever was.”
The social scientists who predicted the demise of values developed through moral introspection guided through an individual’s unique perception of the divine have seen in the last decade or more what we, as Freemasons, have always claimed to have seen. As evidenced by the sincere inquiries excerpted above, the individual moral compass of Masonry is needed as much, if not more, today than it ever was. Men interested in Masonry want to know who we are, what we do, and how we do what we do. Why? Because they are searching for a noble, moral journey.
We, as 21st Century Freemasons, can provide that noble, moral journey. We are the legators of a vast storehouse of universal moral knowledge. As the custodians of such a wealth, we have an obligation consisting – in particularly Masonic imagery – of three distinct parts. First, we are obliged to protect and preserve the knowledge of the ages passed down to us by our forebears. Second, we are obligated to learn those lessons ourselves and apply them to the conduct of our individual lives. Third, we are obligated to pass the unadulterated knowledge we learned and preserved onto the next generation of brothers.
Generally, we’ve done a pretty good job on the first obligation – protecting and preserving. Our ritual is printed in long and short forms, ciphered and not, digitized, archived, and otherwise housed in libraries throughout the world. Masonic commentators and commentary are readily available to even the most casual researcher – and some of it is actually accurate and sensible!
As to the second obligation – learning and living our lessons – we’re slipping up a bit. While living our Masonic lessons is a uniquely personal task, institutional Masonry can and should share intentional, organized opportunities for education, study, and discussion by all members of our craft. Look at your lodge…do those opportunities exist? Is such discussion welcomed? If so, your lodge is two-thirds of the way to being a true Masonic Lodge. If not, remember that you’ll never reach the third obligation if you can’t comfortably deal with the second.
The third obligation – to pass on our wealth of moral knowledge – is, in its simplest form, teaching. Here we may well be falling down, and falling down hard. Passing on our wealth moral knowledge is far more than word perfect openings and closings and properly presented degree ritual. Only when we acknowledge that there is more to learn than regular ritual and formally embrace, in the words of one of the inquirers noted above, “a mystery school teaching men to develop noble moral qualities, latent spiritual human abilities, and teaching men spiritual truths not available to the profane,” will we have fulfilled all of our Masonic obligations.
By now you’re recoiling and shaking your head. A mystery school teaching men to develop noble moral qualities, latent spiritual human abilities, and teaching men spiritual truths not available to the profane. What kind of nonsense is that? Well, brothers, it’s not nonsense. It’s what Freemasonry has been about from time immemorial. Our new inquirers, courtesy of films and books and internet discussions and expose’ – both accurate and inaccurate – have passed beyond the veneer of institutional Freemasonry and, in innocence and true interest, demand us to address the very core of our organization.
If this is all a little uncomfortable, a little weird, maybe even a little creepy…then it’s time think back to that day when you first knocked on the inner door. Take your first steps again…and reflect on what it’s meant to you to be a Freemason these many years. You’ll find that there’s more to what you’ve learned. There are lessons behind the words. There are secrets deeper than the story presented in the third degree. Institutional Masonry and its hard focus on the day to day business of running a fraternity may have muffled what you first heard and felt. Step back, remember, and help educate your brothers, new and old. Don’t be afraid to share what you’ve felt and learned. Deliberately, with a full and generous heart, pass on the wisdom of the giants who walked through the lodge before us.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 4, 2011 23:05:42 GMT
Masonic Grit Some people will take it wrong and criticize me for not going to my father’s funeral. My answer is this: I had my father’s business to attend to. He was buried in his Mason’s apron by the Danville lodge.True Grit – be it the 1969 version with John Wayne as Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogborn, Ethan and Joel Coen’s 2010 masterful retelling of the story with Jeff Bridges and Haillee Steinfeld in the leading roles, or Charles Portis’ original story first serialized in 1968 in the Saturday Evening Post – catches the watcher, or reader, on many levels. Mattie Ross, the young protagonist, attends to the details of her father’s embalming, transport home, burial, collection of his personal effects, and final business with cool competence and confidence: People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem too strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.Mattie’s father’s, Frank’s, personal effects consist, mostly, of a Colt Dragoon revolver and a gold watch chain and fob. As the film progresses to a critical juncture the Colt eventually fails, but Mattie’s heritage, symbolized by her father’s watch fob, a large Square and Compass, fails her not. The courage and determination of a fourteen year old girl brought to life by the imagination of Charles Portis should exemplify to the observant Freemason the Masonic legacy left by her father. She plans her work carefully. She chooses her tools with efficiency. She reacts to obstruction with cool competence. She finishes the work. Did Mattie’s determinant character rise from Frank’s Freemasonry alone? Of course not. Did Mattie’s father's Freemasonry contribute to her strength of character? Of course it did. Every single day Freemasons, through our actions and associations, model the fraternity to the uninitiated and our families. Consider that by holding truth, honor, and fortitude as our guides we endeavor to live our lives on a plane one step above the rabble of daily life. Are Freemasons perfect? Far from it. We recognize that Freemasonry, and life itself, is a journey. A journey fraught with falls and failures; with missteps and mistakes. We try to live by truth, honor, and fortitude; we often miss the mark. But those slips, those falls, those failures are accepted, temporary setbacks. The true hallmark of Freemasonry is appreciation of the lessons learned from our mistakes and failures. A fall backward does not make us less a Freemason; does not turn us from our journey to light. It provides a means to find our way back to the path and find the ultimate goal. Young Mattie Ross had every opportunity to turn from her self-appointed task of bringing her father’s murderer back to Fort Smith to hang for his unprovoked and heinous crime. But she persevered. She saw the good in the men who might have foregone her mission for their own personal gain. Through her own strength of character she drew that good from them, and set them on the righteous course. By keeping true to her word, she kept them true to theirs. Frank Ross is most certainly dead. The story requires that certainty. We see him in his long house and are assured that he is enroute to the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns. Nonetheless, the strength of his character flows unebbed in his daughter. Frank’s Freemasonry is reflected in Mattie. Wittingly, or unwittingly, she models her father’s purpose, honesty, strength of character. As Freemasons we can only hope that the character we endeavor to consistently display to the world will similarly effect those around us. The study of Freemasonry is not limited to dusty tomes residing in glass fronted cabinets in our Lodge Halls. It’s not only our rituals, ceremonies, and libraries. As Freemasons we are studied by the uninitiated. We model for the “cowans and eavesdroppers” what should be a life of moral rectitude. A demonstration of a compass of character which, though tested and, yes, mortal and wavering, always returns to the lodestone of truth, honesty, and fortitude. We are what we do. Those around us see what we do and learn from our actions. Mattie Ross learned from her father, a Freemason. Our children…our friends…our business associates…all learn from us. Study Freemasonry carefully. Take time to converse with your Brothers. Compare your ideas. Debate your understandings and misunderstandings of Masonic ideals and mythology. Only through analysis of the allegorical lessons of our great fraternity and Masonic intercourse with your Brothers can you, as an individual, define for yourself your model of life as a Freemason. Let us hope that each of us, through our education as Freemasons, will pass on “Masonic Grit” to all who surround us to the end that, eventually, new light dawns on a future, untroubled, world. James D. Taylor Chair Commission on Masonic Education Grand Lodge of South Dakota
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Post by windtimber on Apr 4, 2011 1:04:54 GMT
My experience in 20+ years as a Freemason, traveling about a bit, and being active in my home, "mainstream" lodge and Grand Lodge, the original post [and the poster's follow-ups] lead me to three specific points:
1. You'll get as much out of Freemasonry as you're willing to put into it. What you "put into it" is self-study, participation in ritual, and spending time talking, listening, and really getting to know your brothers. 2. I have never been turned away from a lodge wherever I have visited. In fact I've been overwhelmed by the hospitality and genuine welcome my Masonic brothers extend. 3. Every lodge has it's own, unique personality. Some I could regularly attend and feel completely comfortable. Others were fine, but I was not as comfortable as I felt I should be. That said, that was MY feeling. As noted above, the welcome and hospitality are always genuine and generous.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 4, 2011 0:46:33 GMT
Welcome, paul79. I see you joined yesterday. If you've been through the U.S. version of the Royal Arch the symbols on the coin should be readily understood. As noted in my private message to you, let us know what's on the other side of the coin. Be interesting to see if there's a Chapter named on the reverse...that might give a clue to the origin of the tape and scissors.
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Post by windtimber on May 27, 2010 23:57:13 GMT
Sentience perhaps? Self-awareness...
Then again, as Mark Twain put it in "Puddin' Head Wilson's Almanac" and alluded to above - "Pick up a starving dog, feed him, and he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between dog and man."
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Post by windtimber on Apr 21, 2010 2:27:17 GMT
I switched to Firefox about 18 months ago. Would never go back to IE.
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Post by windtimber on Apr 21, 2010 2:24:30 GMT
This issue always amazes me...my pastor signed my petition to join the lodge! We got him his 50 year pin not too long ago.
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