ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Jun 25, 2009 11:09:18 GMT
The Book of Constitutions says: At the Quarterly Communication of 10 December 2003 the United Grand Lodge of England acknowledged and pronounced the status of the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch to be ‘an extension to, but neither a superior nor a subordinate part of, the Degrees which precede it’. Mike In certain jurisdictions much the same is said about the Mark degree S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Jun 9, 2009 11:57:37 GMT
I have been addressed as "sir" by US Masons - makes me feel v. uncomfortable.
S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on May 20, 2009 12:03:46 GMT
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on May 4, 2009 14:39:38 GMT
I have another related question. We may not work without our gloves and our apron. However, I have seen quite some watercolours where the masons have an apron but no gloves. Any idea when/where the two became compulsory for the first time ? Thanks for your Help. Mackey wrote about gloves in " The Symbolism of Freemasonry". It would also be worthwhile seeing what Harry Carr has to say about gloves. From Mackey: "The apron evidently owes its adoption in Freemasonry to the use of that necessary garment by the operative masons of the middle ages. It is one of the most positive evidences--indeed we may say, absolutely, the most tangible evidence--of the derivation of our speculative science from an operative art. The builders, who associated in companies, who traversed Europe, and were engaged in the construction of palaces and cathedrals, have left to us, as their descendants, their name, their technical language, and that distinctive piece of clothing by which they protected their garments from the pollutions of their laborious employment. Did they also bequeath to us their gloves? This is a question which some modern discoveries will at last enable us to solve.
"M. Didron, in his "Annales Archeologiques", presents us with an engraving, copied from the painted glass of a window in the cathedral of Chartres, in France. The painting was executed in the thirteenth century, and represents a number of operative masons at work. ... All of the Masons wear gloves. M. Didron remarks that in the old documents which he has examined, mention is often made of gloves which are intended to be presented to masons and stone-cutters. In a subsequent number of the "Annales", he gives the following three examples of this fact:--
"In the year 1331, the Chatelan of Villaines, in Duemois, bought a considerable quantity of gloves, to be given to the workmen, in order, as it is said, "to shield their hands from the stone and lime."
"In October, 1383, as he learns from a document of that period, three dozen pairs of gloves were bought and distributed to the masons when they commenced the buildings at the Chartreuse of Dijon.
"And, lastly, in 1486 or 1487, twenty-two pair of gloves were given to the masons and stone-cutters who were engaged in work at the city of Amiens.
"It is thus evident that the builders--the operative masons--of the middle ages wore gloves to protect their hands from the effects of their work. It is equally evident that the speculative masons have received from their operative predecessors the gloves as well as the apron, both of which, being used by the latter for practical uses, have been, in the spirit of symbolism, appropriated by the former to "a more noble and glorious purpose."" from www.sacred-texts.com/mas/sof/sof22.htmFurther reading:
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on May 4, 2009 14:17:55 GMT
Feathers, fur, scales and skin. Are there any correspondences to the four elements of the ancients? Is it possible to have feathers and fur without skin? Some creatures have their skeletons on the outside - exoskeletons. The tortoise has both an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton!
We humans who generally have thin, bare skins have adopted clothing for purposes of shelter, protection and, ahem, modesty. Furs and feathers can be expensive. As Masons we lay stress on equality, and, being sociable and (often) followers of fashion, have taken to standardised modes of dress, aprons and regalia. Hence the dark suit. The dinner jacket or tux and the little black dress have become classics ... perhaps the quintessence of western good taste?
S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on May 4, 2009 8:01:48 GMT
Yes Bro Karen, I think better to wear a Lord Mayor's hat than that of Master of the Wpl Company of Launderers. The photo was taken on the day of the 2008 Inter-Livery Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race, organised by the Wpl Company of Poulters so perhaps the Master was wearing a chef's hat? I found an interesting site on [url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/headdress.htm ]headdresses of the ancient Egyptian dieties[/url] - interesting to read about the use of Ma'at's feather ("in the underworld, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis against Maat's feather. If the heart was heavy with wicked deeds, it would outweigh the feather .."). S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on May 2, 2009 7:55:26 GMT
And feathers. Lots and lots of feathers. What about this? ... (OK egyptian style, but where are the feathers?) this? ... or this? ... ... perhaps fur is more "esoteric" ... from the sublime to ... the Master of the Launderers' Company with the Lord Mayor of London (grin) S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on May 1, 2009 6:46:38 GMT
Thank you for providing the link on this matter. It is worth reading but the contents are not particularly new information. These ideas have also been introduced a while ago in some other jurisdictions. Perhaps it is how the message is massaged ?! It seems those who have heard this speaker come away enthused.
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 30, 2009 10:26:56 GMT
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 30, 2009 10:04:46 GMT
Ooops, sorry about that... one may have to address a letter to Greg himself c/- the UGLQ for more info. At least the address is there. So hard to contact and so many new members... makes it even more interesting. I will see if I can find out more info for you. Maat In July 2008 at the Australian & New Zealand Grand Masters Conference held in Sydney, RW Bro. Greg Goding PAGM from Queensland gave a presentation. Appointed by the Queensland Grand Master to address their membership “problem”, Greg gave a passionate address regarding the membership problem. Our Grand Master was so impressed he had Greg give an address to our jurisdiction on 11 February in the Chandelier Room.
Greg has been getting favourable and positive results from his methods to the degree that other Australasian jurisdictions have asked for his services to address their membership. Greg’s talk was directed at the issues which need to be addressed for the survival of Lodges.
There were five main points, shown below, that will be discussed and passed to all Lodges by the “Revive and Survive Team” that will be going into action in the near future.
1. Harmony 2. Business Part 3. Ritual 4. Festive Board 5. Cringe Factor S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 30, 2009 9:39:43 GMT
In March 2006, when Duke of Leinster Lodge # 363 I.C. celebrated 150 years of working, we had visitors from Ireland, New Zealand, other parts of Australia, and from the Grand Lodge of South Australia and Northern Territory. Events were held over 4 days: Day 1 (the actual anniversary day) - Saturday - informal "open house" and history day: welcoming our many visitors, their partners and families in the lodge room, unveiling of anniversary commemoration stone, display of historical memorabilia with short talks, computerised slideshow of portraits of Masters of the past 150 years.
Day 2 - Sunday - Service of Thanksgiving led by the Lodge Chaplain. All welcome - brethren, visitors, partners. Followed by lunch.
Day 3 - Monday - 6 hour bus tour of several regional wineries, including stops and lunch.
Day 4 - Tuesday evening - Stated Communication of the Lodge - formal reception of brethren and lodges (including from other jurisdictions), reception of the Representative of the Grand Master of Ireland, then of the Grand Master of SA & NT; a Working of the Second degree, then a formal Dinner. Owing to OH&S requirements only 200 were permitted within the lodge room. S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 30, 2009 7:43:50 GMT
We are requested to wear a dark suit and a white shirt.While it is indeed often, if not always the case for masons depicted in watercolours, drawings, photos, etc. in the XX century, I have the impression that it is not a general rule in representations of the XIX century, and even less in the XVIII century. Does any of you know when the dark suite became the rule ? WHY THE BLACK AND WHITE CLOTHING?
The following was compiled in response to a question asking why freemasons wear black and white.
This has been the custom for over a hundred years. In the 1700's freemasons did not wear black and white. In an old masonic catechism of that time there is a question asking about the Master's clothing - "yallow jacket and blue breeches" forms part of the answer. This was an allusion to the colours of a pair of compasses and a square, perhaps. There is a painting (below) showing the Scottish poet Robert Burns in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, Edinburgh (Scotland) on his appointment as lodge poet laureate - members of the lodge wear variously coloured coats, breeches and stockings, not black and white. This event was supposedly on 1 March 1787 ; the painting (by Brother Stewart Watson) was produced in 1846. Blue and Gold were certainly recognised as the official colours of freemasonry in the 1720's - nowadays these colours are used as the edging on aprons of Grand Lodge Officers and on their collars; private lodge officers use light blue collars and have light blue trimmings on their aprons.
It seems that black formal wear was invented by an English writer. The idea of wearing black for evening wear was, according to the English clothing historian James Laver, first introduced by the nineteenth-century British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton (below), who utilized it "as a romantic gesture to show that he was a 'blighted being' and very, very melancholy." And it was Bulwer-Lytton who gave further impetus to this notion of black as the color for formal wear by writing, in 1828, that "people must be very distinguished to look well in black." Naturally, the moment this statement was noted by would-be dandies, the style became decidedly de rigueur ... or "cool" in modern parlance.
This was probably a reaction to the sartorial excesses of men during the time of the English Prince Regent (later Brother King George IV) when dandies such as Beau Brummell wore more splendid apparel than females.
The original dinner jacket was "invented" by Brother King Edward VII when Prince of Wales. He was also the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England in the last quarter of the 19th Century. He certainly made the dinner jacket fashionable, and no doubt this is why the vast majority of freemasons in Australia and some other countries wear dinner jackets (some WMs and Grand Lodge folk wear white tie and tails).
The tuxedo was "invented" by Pierre Lorillard IV, a wealthy man of Tuxedo Park in New York State, in 1896. His son and friends wore the first tuxedos to a white tie and tails ball. The cummerbund and bow tie (popular with many freemasons in Australia) were later additions to the "tux" outfit.
In the more tropical parts of Australia, masons wear white mess jackets rather than the sombre dinner jacket or tuxedo or tailcoat. Members of daylight lodges here wear day clothes such as a business suit or perhaps a formal sports jacket.
Frequent attenders at lodge take their freemasonry fairly seriously, and wearing formal clothes perhaps helps to set the mood. Furthermore, the "uniform" of black-and-white might mean that we pay more attention to the man than his clothes - the reverse might occur if we wore catwalk "gear" to lodge!
In many parts of the world, at least a portion of the lodge floor is black and white. As to how long these chequered or black-and-white mosaic pavements have existed in lodge, maybe someone else can answer that question. I would suspect that these pavements became fashionable in permanent lodge rooms, when chalk marks on the floor or floor coverings were no longer required to be laid out by the tyler in temporary accommodation such as taverns and hostelries. As an aside, there is a vogue in Australia for some new lodges to meet in temporary accomodation such as clubs, so the rolled up masonic carpet (afghan) is making a comeback. Such carpets are mainly comprised of black and white squares arranged in a mosaic pattern. from www.ohiolodge199masons.org/index.php?page=SHORT24&title=Why%20The%20Black%20and%20White%20Clothing?
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 30, 2009 4:00:06 GMT
"Acceptable dress for intending overseas or interstate visitors to South Australian and Northern Territory Lodges includes a coat, white shirt and dark tie - note that your hosts in evening lodges generally wear a dinner jacket (tuxedo) and black (bow) tie. Summer dress (no coat or jacket) may be worn between mid October and mid April in South Australia, and all year in the Northern Territory." from www.freemasonrysaust.org.au/masonlink.html#visit
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 19, 2009 11:33:45 GMT
The Lodge of Reconciliation completed its work in 1816. The combined ritual was termed the Emulation Ritual and adopted as a standard ritual by UGLE, although other rituals continue to be used in many lodges. The Stability Lodge of Instruction has a very good pedigree, being the earliest LoI still in existence. It was founded by the Lodge of Stability in 1817. The Emulation Lodge of Improvement was not founded until 1823 See a paper from 1915 titled "STABILITY LODGE OF INSTRUCTION" by Bro. F.W. Golby - showing the connection between the Lodge of Reconciliation and the Stability Lodge of Instruction. "The Stability Lodge of Instruction was founded in the year 1817, and there is strong, if not conclusive, evidence to prove that it is the only Lodge of Instruction having the right to claim to be lineally descended from the Lodge of Reconciliation, which settled the Ritual and Ceremonial of the three degrees and rehearsed the working approved by Grand Lodge in the year 1816. The Stability Lodge of Instruction was founded by some seventeen Brethren, of whom three were Members of the Lodge of Reconciliation and five others were pupils who learnt the new form of working at that Lodge." The paper is available at www.stabilityritual.com/stabproof1.htmlS&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Apr 4, 2009 5:30:52 GMT
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Feb 11, 2009 13:24:44 GMT
Good questions. I have passed them onto another list at YahooGroups, where there are a few erudite members of the Irish Lodge of Research No.CC and the Irish Royal Arch Chapter of Research No.222. Lets see what they come up with.
S&F
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Feb 10, 2009 13:47:22 GMT
Our lodge intends to design its own lodge banner and get it made by a professional enterprise? Does anybody know a source of purchase? Thanks The design should be submitted to the Provincial Grand Lodge in Ireland, and may need to be finally approved by Dublin. However, I'm sure your Secretary and Past Masters will be well aware of the requirements. S&F Ricardo
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Feb 10, 2009 13:42:41 GMT
I spoke to the Grand Secretary today. he said no at first then he thought about it,and said if the Scottish Installation ceremony is written out in full and he can get a copy and he thinks it can be done,with or without changes he will speak to the Grand Master. He thought it was a great idea after I yapped on about it being historic and being good for Masonry as a whole,and it might get some of the brothers back to the lodge. You say "historic". It's my understanding that the Installed Master ceremony was introduced in Scotland in the mid 1800's, to match the Irish and English ceremonies which began (much?) earlier. It seems prior to this Masters of Scottish Lodges might have been embarassed when visiting lodges of other jurisdictions - probably more of a problem to Scottish Masons in the colonies (which tended to have lodges of two or three jurisdictions meeting cheek by jowl) than to those resident in Scotland. After the Master Elect receives the information peculiar to an Installed Master he is placed in the Chair. This information is not the same for all jurisdictions, even within the British Isles. The following ceremony also differs. The new WM may variably be proclaimed in each degree, may be presented with the WTs of each degree, be handed some or all of the VSL, the Warrant, Grand Lodge Constitutions and By-Laws, and be addressed by the Installing Officer. He then invests the other Officers. The Irish installation is conducted entirely in the EA degree (apart from the Inner Working). I have rambled. I find the ceremonies associated with Installation of a new Master among the most interesting in Freemasonry, and have been lucky to witness versions in seven jurisdictions working in Australia, also in Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the USA (including two different Prince Hall jurisdictions). S&F Ricardo
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Feb 10, 2009 13:17:42 GMT
I would be most interested in knowing the name of the gent who is now "across the ditch" from us. His guidance and knowledge would certainly be of assistance in the future. Advocate Do you still wish to know his name? I understand he'll be in Melbourne next week. S&F Ricardo
|
|
ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
|
Post by ricardo on Feb 10, 2009 13:14:30 GMT
The late Bro. Oscar Wilde, in 'A Woman of No Importance' wrote: "Lord Illingworth: 'The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.' Mrs. Allonby: 'It ends with Revelations.' " S&F
|
|