Premiere! Brotherhood 2010
This week how do you engage your Lodge in a thoughtful discussion aimed at revealing the shortcomings of masonic education all while being brotherly this week Mark St seir takes us through exactly that how to assist your Lodge in realizing its shortcoming in Masonic education and what you can do
About it then illustrious brother Steven L Harrison takes us through the Morgan Affair in a condensed form but it’s not really about Morgan it’s an interesting story of an order given by dit Clinton perhaps one of the most altruistic orders anyone in masonry ever made considering the
Circumstances then we take a look at a famous poem by Edgar alen Poe Dar laners takes it apart and asks the question is The Cask of matalato a quasi Masonic degree in hiding all this and more stay tuned welcome back to whence came you a masonic podcast featuring research
Papers and discussions related to Freemasonry here’s your host brother Robert Johnson welcome back to the show I want to thank our contributors fellows producers and Legacy partners of the wcy podcast it’s through your help and assistance that we’re able to reach so many people all over the world
Interested in the Royal art since July of 2011 we’ve been producing this podcast on a weekly basis and it’s no small Endeavor if you’re interested in how to help out the wcy podcast head on over to wcy podcast.com click on support the show and check out your various
Options to assist us all right now right off the bat we’ve got a large episode here and I want to go ahead and get into this next awesome segment from Mark Saint here in the education application Series well once came you podcast on MOX sa C with this week’s installment of its
Education application Series first as always the disclaimer the following viewpoint does not represent any Grand large of concorded body and is solely that of the presenter please be sure to check with your jurisdiction’s rules for governance relating to anything discussed here before considering any application thereof so with that said
Let’s dig in after pretty much covering the idea of culture both from a micro and macro perspective it’s now time to delve directly into the application aspect which prompted them now as I say ad nauseum there will be many that’ll want to push back want to say this or
That or shout down these Concepts but here’s the twist that’s not only okay it’s actually encouraged why because without the doubters the naysayers the unconvinced you nor I would ever partake in the true test of Education which is application for words without Deeds are dead let’s pull that thread together shall we when
You have garnered the ability along with the courage to both explain defects or defend benefits on a given subject in real time without equivocation against all comers that is when you will demonstrate the why others should listen to you until then words are just that only words to grow in both the
Understanding of topics as well as their applications you have to be willing to engage only then will you know if you’re on the correct path for True rhetorical discourse or said differently you can’t be scared of the naysayers fervent rhetorical discourse is just one of the many aspects of
Applied education we are supposed to be pursuing within our walls it is a required skill and discipline for the toolbox of any so-called learned man man and it requires endless honing for Effectiveness this is an aspect of Education that gets missed by so many for Education true education happens in
Full throated discourse and it is precisely this that our lodges are designed for in other words the idea that peace and Harmony within a lodge means a subservient posture to title age and years served is as Preposterous of an idea as allowing the current management of a once thriving Enterprise
To continue unquestioned as the company’s value and reputation crumbles sound familiar maybe I digressed then again maybe not let’s pull this thread even further shall we the very idea that the confines of a LOD room can have vociferous sanctioned full-throated arguments about such things like what
Bills to pay do we replace the boiler why aren’t there enough volunteers for this much fish FY and much more yet everything short of this is off limits sorry but that’s a complete and utter disservice to the very idea that founded this great fraternity the contemplation in the pursuit of ideals politics
Religion the cosmos and more were precisely the types of subject matter that were primarily disc just within our hallowed walls all presented on the merits and arguments of learned men within the framework of civilized and proper rhetorical discourse free from the ridicule of the uninformed Zealot or profane that’s what once took place
Regularly but we’ve traveled so far off the sublime path lost the plot so long ago those doing most of the a arguing to continue this fall he can’t even explain what something as simple as our stations truly do anymore when pushed think I’m off base now let’s put this whole
Education application thingy to the test right here and right now shall we here’s a test for efficacy for those that question or are hesitant to the idea of masonic education put them on the spot and in full View using something like this as a prompt let’s say concerning
The stations ask please explain to me three distinct features and the application thereof in either the larer community business or even personal sense that a brother will gain spending one term in say oh I don’t know let’s uh use the Junior stewardship then wait say nothing till they finish if they can if
They do and it’s lwh hanging fruit stuff you can challenge that and you should good here’s an example of something like that uh they get to learn the workings of a lodge where you might respond okay but that’s kind of low hanging fruit like the making good men better bromine
We say it but we really can’t explain the true process for application now can you elaborate further precisely what aspect and how it translates I’ll bet dollars to Donuts you’ll have a hard time getting past one never mind all the way to three the point here is not to embarrass the
Point is to make your argument meaningful and it is here you should be both delicate as well as respectful and present a how and why that station alone begins the process of making good men better all men because then I mean of course with asking for permission of
Course depending on your situation you should then take the floor expressing not just three but but 30 yes 30 and here’s how let’s use a man of minimum age requirement to petition and receive our degrees for our first example you should be able to list 15 skills that
Will be learned and applicable for advancement either up the line uh social interactions business understandings as well as their own personal skills then you should have the same number again 15 but totally different objective reasons for what a man say 50 years old or older that is fully formed like somebody
Already successful in business or within your community maybe they’re wealthy scratch that make them incredibly wealthy what is it that they are going to gain from that same station you don’t need to recite all 30 then and there but you do need to know and be able to
Recall that at will this interaction may only require you to explain one for only a few minutes to get your point across you may State 10 and only spend seconds on each you get the idea but the idea is that you can and will that is application and action and it builds
Momentum for what you’ve also begun is a real education process one that can be presented at every meeting if warranted going forward simply using every station that both educates new members as well as the older and it can’t be argued away in a well we don’t do that as stop here
Because we’re not talking about that anymore are we correct this is how you begin the true process of making good men better and you can explain how but make no mistake as I always warn this is not a situation to enter in half coocked you must have at the least those 30 and
The ability to recall and argue befor hand if not you’ll look totally foolish and you’ll simply be dismissed as such but here’s a hidden bonus to all this if your arguments are unsuccessful at the very least you yourself will have a better more fundamental idea of what Freemasonry prends than many of those
Within that pretend to know and that’s a great starting point for all of us so for the W came you podcast I’m Marx sere thanks for listening all right some hard truths there but what I really liked about this piece is that I think a lot of people
Take take some of this business pushy kind of thing and they say well it’s really unbrotherly but if you listened to brother Mark Saint seer in this piece he tells it like it is you’re not doing this to embarrass anybody you’re doing this delicately and in a way that
Hopefully gets Brothers to really think and of course as he said you’ve done a little bit of introspective thinking and writing on this as you prepared for this brotherly confrontation the beauty of this is of course that by even bringing this up you’ve essentially brought in Masonic education all right now before
We get into the article let’s get into another great segment from the always industrious Steven L Harrison an allnew Masonic minute let’s check it out the Morgan Affair has continued to plague Freemasonry for two centuries in 1826 a man named William Morgan showed up in bavia New York and became part of
The Masonic Community he was probably not a Freemason but worked his way into the craft when a friend vouched for him he was subsequently initiated into a chapter of Royal Arch Masonry in Leroy New York when the brothers in bavia applied for a royal Arts chapter Charter
In their Community Morgan’s name was on the list of petitioners this would have automatically made him a member of the new chapter by this time Morgan had developed a reputation as being a heavy drinker a man who could not handle his finances and local masons were beginning
To doubt he had ever been initiated as a member of the fraternity Morgan had also become involved in a dispute with another brother who was well known and Powerful the locals disapproved of Morgan’s handling of that conflict questioning Morgan’s character the bavia brothers Drew up a new petition for a charter leaving Morgan’s
Name off when the charter was granted the bavia Royal Arch chapter denied him membership or visitation rights with the troubles he had been having with the bavia brothers Morgan had been contemplating turning against them and writing a book which would reveal the secrets of the order he may have even
Started writing it by that time but if not the incident with the local Royal Arch chapter was the last straw Morgan fervently went to work on the expose word got around town probably due to Morgan’s alcohol fueled bragging about what he was doing this irritated the
Masons so what do you do when you’re irritated well what else you raid Morgan’s home illegally confiscate his documents set his partner’s business on fire kidnap imprison and maybe even kill the guy then cry in your beer when the book gets published anyway now some thought that might be an
Overreaction but that’s what they did and the fur over what happened to Morgan has been like the sword of democles hanging over the Masons for two centuries but many people perhaps too many already know that story so that’s not really what I wanted to talk about about it what I want to
Talk about is DeWit Clinton at the time all this happened dit Clinton was governor of New York he was also General Grand high priest of the general grand chapter of Royal Arch Masons he was a powerful guy and was very well aware of the shenanigans going on in
Bavia a Mason by the name of Robert Martin set out to deliver Morgan’s papers to the general grand chapter when he arrived Clinton was not there Martin met with a committee acting under Clinton’s Direction it was chaired by Samuel nap of Massachusetts Martin handed over all of Morgan’s documents but nap shoved them
Right back at him under Clinton’s Authority he told Martin you will return those papers to their rightful owner when Martin told nap that person was in prison for debt nap instructed him to raise the money from the fraternity pay Morgan’s debts in order to free him and
Return the papers to him those orders were ignored Morgan disappeared and the Masonic fraternity has suffered for it ever since imagine if you will that Clinton and nap’s orders had been obeyed Morgan would have published his book which was eventually published anyway the book for a while would have caused a stir and
Then faded into history like all of the other Masonic exposes of the time the anti-masonic movement would have been denied the turbo charged boost of the Morgan Affair and today William Morgan might not even be a footnote in Masonic history dwit Clinton’s orders were a very Masonic response which if followed
Would have mitigated the whole volatile situation Freemasons are admonished to learn to subdue their passions and improve themselves in Freemasonry Clinton had learned that nap had learned that others had not for the whence came you podcast this is Steve Harrison with the Masonic minute all right a quick overview of the
Morgan Affair which of course I think many people know about probably most I did have a chuckle at brother Harrison’s uh rundown of the events that happened after the threatening of the publication of a ritual what is and I think what everybody should actually focus on here
Though with all that set aside is the response from ditt Clinton as someone who could have done any number of things as a grandm of the Royal Arch or even the in his political status he chose to do something that was non- retaliatory and certainly is in this or under this
Canopy of almost altruism and with all that said I guess as Steve pointed out this is perhaps the most Masonic response that could have happened regardless of the character of one William Morgan make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel so that you can see the video that compes this
Particular Masonic minute that’ll go up also on our YouTube channel and you can see the cool slideshow that brother Steve has put up for us as promised in the opener we’ve got a Gothic type article in that this is about Edgar Allen Po’s perverse Masonic degree The
Cask of am monato this piece originated on the midnight Freemason blog and it was written by worshipful brother Darren a laners so let’s check it Out Edgar Allen POS perverse Masonic degree The Cask of monato and Edgar Allen Po’s short story The Cask of aadel published in 1846 revenge is the motive for a gruesome murder that takes place in an underground Vault there is no evidence that PO was a Freemason many authors
Have gone out of their way to argue that the short story is an anti-masonic work and that PO had publicly mocked the Freemasons especially in his essay the unparalleled adventure of One hans’s fall prior to his writing of the cas of a matalato compiling to this is an idea that
Edgar’s strained relationship with his wealthy Foster Father John Allen was a Freemason and this led to PO to cast him in the role of fortunado I find it difficult to Fathom that PO would have held onto a grudge 13 years after his foster father’s death in a column by EJ
Edward in the Washington DC Herald published on December 2nd 1913 entitled Captain Wagner’s Recollections of Edgar alen Poe there is an odd recollection given by Captain Frederick C Wagner Captain Wagner had an association with Sarah Helen Witman Po’s onetime fiance whom po had met in 1845 so this would have been the
Earliest time when he may have met him Wagner was also apparently a Freemason although I could not confirm this quote I presume that very few persons are now living who ever saw certainly very few who ever talked with Edgar Allen Poe said Captain Frederick C Wagner to me in
His day he was a very prominent citizen of New York and was well known to the Masonic fraternity of the United States by his prominent identification with the establishment of the great Masonic Home at UDA New York I am fortunate enough to be able to recall many meetings of Po
And several interesting interesting conversations which I had with him at one time or another end quote if po was anti-masonic why would he support the building of the Masonic Home in udica New York perhaps Captain Wagner was confused as he States quote my Recollections of Edgar are among the
Most Pleasant of any of those of my Young Manhood in New York City I find it difficult to believe that PO would have been able to give financially to the Masonic homebuilding fund however I do think that PO did not have issues with individual Freemasons but with the
Institution itself in any case there is enough evidence presented in The Cask of am matalato to state that PO was familiar with Freemasonry many authors also state that PO and others of that time would have had an idea of Freemasonry and its workings due to the Morgan Affair in
1826 however I believe that PO had knowledge of some of the higher degrees of Freemasonry either through the various exposes that that came forward at his time or through associations with Freemasons like Wagner in any case an argument can and has been made for what occurs to the characters in The Cask of
Am matalato as being a reenactment of a masonic degree however I want to postulate something different it is my argument that if you view the Masonic elements in Reverse they reenact the second section of the fellowcraft degree first let’s discuss the story and the Masonic elements contained therein The
Story begins with the protagonist manur confessing his dark deed to some unknown person he regales the story of how he has suffered a thousand insults at the hand of his Nemesis fortunado he says that fortunado has one weakness which is that he is a connoisseur of wine montaur
Encounters his Nemesis at carnival and informs him that he has a pipe a measurement of Cask sizes of a monato in his his possession but he doubts it manur quite cleverly states that he can engage another expert lucasi to look at The Cask and as he does not want to
Occupy fortunato’s time using fortunato’s ego against him because fortunat doubts lucasey’s ability to correctly identify the wine mantur is able to convince fortunado to look at this Cask mantur continues to try to persuade fortunado to not come with him telling him about the damp of his vaults and worrying about fortunato’s coughing
But nothing dissuades him from his mission they continue into the vaults after grabbing two torches and descending a long winding staircase once in the vaults of mataur Palazo mantur Plies forado with alcohol first a bottle of Moke followed by a flask of degra at this point po gives the following
Description quote I broke and reached him a flagen of degrave he emptied it at a breath his eyes flashed with a fierce light he laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand I looked at him in surprise he repeated the movement a grotesque one
You do not comprehend he said not I I replied then you are not of the Brotherhood how you are not of the Masons yes yes said I yes yes you impossible a Mason a Mason I replied aide he said a sign it is this I answered producing a Trel from beneath the folds
Of my roir you just he exclaimed recoiling a few Paces but let us proceed to the amantel be so I said replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm he leaned upon it heavily we continued our route in search of the monato we passed through a range
Of low archers descended and passed on and descending again arrived at a deep CP in which the foulness of the air caused our flambo rather to Glow than flame end quote at this point they arrive at the mantur family crypt wherein there is discovered a recess that is 4T in depth
3T in width and 6 to 7 feet in height in between two colossal supports for the roof of the Catacombs montressor exclaims that The Cask is therein and when forado investigates the Trap is sprung mantur chains fortunado to the wall by wrapping the chain around his waist and padlocking it mantur then
Begins to lay bricks and walls up the recess in tuming forado alive many authors have tried to describe the journey that fortunado and mantur take as being a masonic degree they point to the description of the winding staircase the dialogue above and the description of two colossal supports as evidence of
This the problem with this is that it makes no sense chronologically to what happens in the fellowcraft degree which is is the only degree that features the winding staircase however when you reverse the chronological timing a more complete picture comes into shape the candidate at the end of the first section of the
Fellowcraft degree is told the following quote in accordance with an ancient custom adopted in every regular and well-governed Lodge it will be necessary that you make a regular Advance through a porch by a flight of winding stairs consisting of three five and seven steps to a place representing the Middle
Chamber of King Solomon’s Temple where you will find the worshipful master it will give you the instruction relative to the wages and jewels of a fellowcraft what happens in the second section allow me to explain with the aid of what fortunado and mantur do the candidate emerges from the anti
Room fortunado in The Recess proceeds through the two Brazen pillars fortunado is led by mantur into the Crypt to a winding staircase forado and mantur descend the staircase into the vaults on under monor’s Palazo to a place representing the Middle Chamber of King Solomon’s Temple mantur and for
Anado while they are above ground where you will find the worshipful master who will give you instruction relative to the wages and jewels of a fellowcraft mantur initial meeting with Fortunato wages coin and jewels in a classical sense would make up the treasure and mantur name means my treasure there are many jurisdictions
That have within their Lodge rooms a physical representation of the pillar along with the flight of winding stairs which takes them to a room overlooking the lodge room that represents the Middle Chamber of King Solomon’s Temple did po mean to do this we’ll never know there’s more than enough evidence to
Suggest that PO had knowledge of this degree and incorporate it into his work so where does that leave us with a mystery the way po intended it I will say that PO was toward the end of his life when the story was published thinking about the nature of God and our
Universe his lengthy Eureka a Pros poem published in 1848 gives us a deep insight into his beliefs and I would say Echoes some themes discussed in Masonic philosophy even the title of his work should be familiar to every Freemason even if it is attributed incorrectly to Pythagoras instead of
Archimedes however there is no evidence that PO was a Mason however I do not believe that he was anti-masonic I think that he was critical of the institution of Freemasonry but also perhaps intrigued by its Mysteries Darren a laners managing editor midnight Freemasons wonderful piece love Edgar
Allen poo I love the explanation of The Cask of monato in the sense of reversing it I had never in a million years would have thought of this and quite interesting any Edgar Allen po fans out there might have seen any number of movies that involve Edgar in fact there
Was uh a movie not too long ago maybe 10 years a movie starring John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe which was quite good in my opinion uh and I’m actually looking forward to watching this latest one with Christian Bale where he plays a detective en listing the help of one
Edgar Allen Poe I think it’s called the Blue Dot or the blue eye or something like that and then of of course the latest on Netflix that has everybody going crazy is uh the Fall of the House of Usher which uh people are claiming is a amazing and imaginative rendition of
Po’s works so certainly while po isn’t a mason or his writings aren’t really Masonic the theme of symbolism is definitely something that is in his work and symbolism in general in things of this nature tend to engage the minds of philosophers and thinkers alike so I think this was a really good Adventure
Thanks Darren for your work here really looking forward to continuing to read your great articles if you want you can also catch Darren a laners on his podcast meet act in part he is a co-host of uh and then also you can catch him and I talking pretty candidly about all
Kinds of things in high strangeness on our podcast or SLV videoast on the fourth Veil which is on YouTube I’ll have links to all that in the show notes and um I really need to get back on the ball we’ve got some recorded episodes of beyond the fourth fail that I need to
Get up on the site so uh look for those in the future that’s it for this week I do want to thank you all for coming with me on this edifying journey I want to thank Mark Saint here I want to thank Stephen l Harrison and of course Darren
Laners for all their hard work and producing Masonic education because it’s something worth saving believe it or not not in the Years leading up to now let’s call it around 2010 or so we had a massive movement Grassroots you could call it to employ Masonic education in terms of philosophy history and
Practical teachings and of course while Grand lodges tended not to acknowledge the efforts of masonic Educators and instead would rather create programs or delegate existing programs to Masonic Educators in an attempt to somehow utilize their skills to push different kinds of what they might consider education largely administrative items
We were able to hold this off for a long while but my brothers make no mistake that Masonic education will need saving not unlike the clock tower in Back to the Future it’s not time to rest on our Laurels it’s time to continue pushing continue educating and to continue to be
Able to push Masonic education so that those Masonic Educators get a seat at the grownup table I want to thank our supporters those of you who are contributors fellows producers and of course our Legacy partners for making the show possible if you’ve been listening for a very long time and
You’ve ever ever even had the inkling hey I wonder how I could help well you can of course go to wcy podcast.com and check out the various options but if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of that you can even make a one-time gift
Send us a dollar whatever you send goes right back into the production of this show and is greatly appreciated until next week stay on the level for once came you I’m robbert Johnson take care you’ve been listening to Once came you a masonic podcast featuring research papers and discussions related to
Freemasonry with your host brother Robert Johnson be sure to join us for our next Edition A [Applause] A W Wcy media
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