The Communicator November/December 2016

Volume 63, No. 06

November - December 2016

Scottish Rite Day - pg 5

VMAP

The Apron

The Charges

pg 6

pg 8

pg 11

2 Seattle Scottish Rite

Scottish Rite Communicator

Scottish Rite Facts

Valley of Seattle

www.seattle-scottishrite.org

SCOTTISH RITE OFFICERS Ill. Ronald A. Seale, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander Ill. Alvin W. Jorgensen, 33° S:.G:.I:.G:., Orient of Washington Ill. Sat Tashiro, 33° Personal Rep. of S:.G:.I:.G:. pr@seattle-scottishrite.org Ill. Greg Goodrich, 33° General Secretary Communicator Editor secretary@seattle-scottishrite.org Ill. Brian Thomas, 33° Treasurer Tom Lamb, 32° KCCH Almoner

PRESIDING OFFICERS Ill. E. Jeff Craig, 33° Master of Kadosh, Consistory Bryan Bechler, 32° Commander, Council of Kadosh Richard Brzustowicz, 32° KCCH Wise Master, Chapter of Rose Croix Steve Dazey, 32° Venerable Master, Lodge of Perfection

Seattle Scottish Rite Center 1207 N 152nd St Seattle, WA 98133-6213 206 324-3330 voice 206 324-3332 fax The Communicator (USPS 485-660) is published by the Valley of Seattle, A&A Scottish Rite, 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213, for the benefit of its members, bimonthly and is mailed as a non-profit publication to all members of the Valley of Seattle and to specified other interested parties. $2.00 per member is assessed for the publication of The Communicator. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle, Washington and at additional mailing offices.

The material contained within this publication is intended for the education and enjoyment of the members of the Masonic Fraternity and all material published becomes the property of Seattle Valley of Scottish Rite. Postmaster: Send address changes to — The Communicator at 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213.

Did you know?

Valley of Seattle Membership Statistics (Updated as of July 2016) Age range

Number of members

75 + 424 50-74 231 18-49 48 Total membership:

703

Further breakdown...

90 + 99 80-89 215 70-79 197 50-69 144 40-49 26 30-39 19 18-29 3

Seattle Scottish Rite 3

News from the Personal Representative

A

s we enjoy the blustery weather of the fall months in the Pacific Northwest, we are reminded that we very fortunate in not encountering the extremes of the weather, that the world and the other parts of our country are experiencing.

Since our last Communicator we had outstanding meetings in September and October, with a speaker from Sound Transit in September on transportation gridlock in the Greater Seattle area, and the October meeting being our annual Feast of Tishri, hosted by the Lodge of Perfection. Our Feast of Tishri was an outstanding success in the table lodge format, with our new members giving the toasts. Based upon the post meeting comments by the brethren we will plan on having similar meeting(s) this coming year.

As we end this year, it is important that our members put forth their energies in attracting new Master Masons into our Scottish Rite, and our valley, in particular. Please invite those who may not be members to attend our Friends Night. The dinner will be complimentary to our friends with a brief program on the happenings at the House of Temple, and the status of the VMAP program.

Our two clubs, one in the South-end of King County meeting at Verity Lodge, and the other in the Eastside meeting at the Eastside Masonic Center (ESMC), located at 8561 Willows Road in Redmond, have resumed their labors with meeting(s) scheduled in the fall. The members of the Southend Scottish Rite Club meet in Verity Masonic Center in Kent. Brother Joe Marll can be contacted for information on upcoming meetings and topics at josephmarll@gmail.com. They cover a range of topics at their meetings, ranging from Master Craftsman to undertaking the performance of hitherto rarely performed degrees each year to our new class.

The Eastside Scottish Rite Club (ESRC) meeting will be held at the aforementioned ESMC in Redmond, Please contact Dean Markley, secretary of the ESRC, wdeanm@gmail.com for upcoming dates and the respective programs.

All Scottish Rite members of the Valley of Seattle receive the Communicator, but may miss the fellowship with their fellow members within the valley and find the difficult-travel-miles to-and-from our Shoreline building a major problem. For these members, you are invited to attend one of the clubs in your area. Your attendance at the club meetings is tantamount to attending our stated meetings.

For those who are able to attend our meetings at the Shoreline valley facility, you are always welcome to our preand post-meeting fellowship time together. This is becoming the highlight of our time together.

The Rite Care of Washington will henceforth be known as Early Life, Speech and Language, with a new logo, and reference to its early beginning by the Scottish Rite. Please drop by and see the upgraded facilities. They have increased their square area considerably and have a dedicated area for the speech therapy. Under the direction of Angelique Leone, its new director, growth of the organization is evident throughout the state.

Fraternally, Sat Tashiro, 33° Personal Representative of the S:.G:.I:.G:.

4 Seattle Scottish Rite

O

ur first Feast of Tishri Table Lodge was a resounding success! (see cover photo) We feasted on fresh crab, salmon and Salisbury steak with plenty of wine and sparkling cider to go around for the eight toasts. If you missed this event, do not fret! We plan to have at least two more Table Lodges next year by popular demand. It truly was a wonderful night and you won’t want to miss the next one!

The 32nd degree will be held on Saturday, November 12 at 10:00 AM. This will be the final terminal degree for the 2016 class. All members are encouraged to attend as this will also be “Scottish Rite Day” in which the entire Northern and Southern Jurisdiction will celebrate Scottish Rite Freemasonry. We will have an open house for all members and friends of the Valley of Seattle from 12-2 PM with lunch, hors d’oeuvres.

Finance Committee

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e are looking to add one or two new members to our finance committee. The ideal candidate(s) should hold a University degree and have experience with banking, investments, or the daily running of a successful business. This brother does not necessarily have to be a professional “numbers” guy but good judgment, logic, curiosity, and a commitment to accountability and the long-term financial stability of the Seattle Scottish Rite are vital traits. The committee meets roughly four times a year so it will not be a big drain on your time.

Our current committee consists of five members with backgrounds in Management, Banking, Investments, Accounting, and Legal. The presence of a fully engaged finance committee is a strong indication that our organization is committed to good stewardship and is actively building and preserving the financial resources necessary to support the mission of Seattle Scottish Rite, both for the short and the long term. If you are interested or would like further information please contact me.

Fraternally, Greg Goodrich, 33° General Secretary

Seattle Scottish Rite 5

One Day, One Celebration – Scottish Rite Freemasonry!

On Nov. 12, 2016, Valleys and Orients from both the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions will come together to celebrate the Scottish Rite. It is the first time the fraternity has held such a nationwide day of honor.

The Valley of Seattle will commemorate Scottish Rite Day by holding the Thirty-second degree with a public celebration after the conferral of the Thirty-second degree. Our hope is that you see it as a chance to enjoy a fun, memorable occasion where you can reach out to and connect with your Brothers.

Scottish Rite Day will be an enjoyable, inspirational, and meaningful experience for our members. The event will also accord the 32° the recognition and prestige it deserves. All members are invited to come and bring their families for the celebration. We will start at Noon and finish around 2:00 pm.

Saturday November 12, 2016 Noon - 2:00 pm

6 Seattle Scottish Rite

A

VMAP (Valley Membership Achievement Project)

t our stated meeting in October SGIG, Ill. Al Jorgensen presented Steve Dazey (VM of the Lodge of Perfection) and Todd Pike (2016-2017 fellow and VMAP chairman) with our new VMAP plaque. Last year we met all the criteria to qualify and we are hard at work trying to meet the increased requirement for 2016.

The intent of  VMAP is to help each Valley carry out its service to the Scottish Rite by providing the very best experience for its members. VMAP requirements are broken into the following 11 specific subject areas which cover the full scope of the Scottish Rite experience: 1. Membership Retention / Engagement 2. Scottish Rite Education for Members 3. Membership Recruitment 4. New Member Engagement 5. Reunion Experience 6. Scottish Rite Education for Candidates 7. Philanthropy 8. Public Image 9. Degree Conferral Proficiency 10. Officer Responsibilities & Engagement 11. Valley Organizations

Seattle Scottish Rite 7

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$40.00

8 Seattle Scottish Rite

The Apron C

By: H.L. Haywood - 1918

ome we now to the Apron. Having been privileged to read up and down a great deal of Masonic literature I may say that on no other one symbol has so much nonsense been written. It has been made to mean a thousand and one things, from the fig-leaf worn by Adam and Eve to the last mathematical theory of the Fourth Dimension; and there is little cause to wonder that the intelligent have been scandalized and common men bewildered. If an interpretation can be made that steers a safe course between the folly of the learned and the fanaticism of the ignorant it will have some value, whatever may be said of its own intrinsic worth. Warned by the many who have fallen into the pit of unreason we shall be wise to walk warily and theorize carefully.

Speaking generally, and without the slightest hint of disrespect to our fellow workers in this field, it may be said that a majority of the wildest theories have been based on the shape of the Apron, a thing of comparatively recent origin and due to a mere historical accident. The body of it, as now worn, is approximately square in shape and thus has suggested the symbolism of the square, the right-angle, and the cube, and all arising therefrom; its flap is triangular and this has suggested the symbolism of the triangle, the Forty-seventh Proposition, and the pyramid; the descent of the flap over the body of the apron has also given rise to reasonings equally ingenious. By this method of interpretation men have read into it all manner of things, the mythology of the Mysteries, the metaphysics of India, the dream-walking of the kabbala, and the Occultisms of Magic. Meanwhile it has been forgotten that the Apron is a MASONIC symbol and that we are to find out what it is intended to mean rather than what it may, under the stress of our lust for fancifulness, be made to mean. When the Ritual is consulted, as it always deserves to be, we find that it treats the Apron (1) as an inheritance from the past, (2) as the Badge of a Mason, (3) as the emblem of innocence and sacrifice.

The Apron is an inheritance from the past. For one purpose or another, and in some form, the Apron has been used for three or four thousand years. In at least one of the Ancient Mysteries, that of Mithras, the candidate was invested with a white Apron. So also was the initiate of the Essenes, who received during the first year of his membership in that order, and it is significant that many of the statues of Greek and Egyptian gods were so ornamented, as may still be seen. Chinese secret societies, in many cases, also used it, and the Persians, at one time, employed it as their national banner. Jewish prophets often wore aprons, as ecclesiastical dignitaries of the present day still do. The same custom is found even among savages, for, as Brother J.G. Gibson has remarked, “Wherever the religious sentiment remains — even among the savage nations of the earth — there has been noticed the desire of the natives to wear a girdle or apron of some kind.” From all this, however, we must not infer that our Masonic Apron has come to us from such sources, though, for all we know, the early builder may have been influenced by those ancient and universal customs. The fact seems to be that the Operative masons used the Apron only for the practical purpose of protecting the clothing, as there was need in labor so rough. It was nothing more than one item of the workman’s necessary equipment as is shown by Brother W.H. Rylands, who found an Indenture of 1685 in which a Master contracted to supply his Apprentice with “sufficient wholesome and competent meat, drink, lodging and Aprons.” Because the Apron was so conspicuous a portion of the Operative Mason’s costume, and so persistent a portion of his equipment, it was inevitable that Speculatives should have continued its use for symbolical purposes. The earliest known representatives of

Seattle Scottish Rite 9

these, we are informed by Brother J.F. Crowe, who was one of the first of our scholars to make a thorough and scientific investigation of the subject (A.Q.C., vol 5, p.29), “is an engraved portrait of Anthony Sayer... Only the upper portion is visible in the picture, but the flap is raised, and the apron looks like a very long leathern skin. The next drawing is in the frontispiece to the Book of Constitution, published in 1723, where a brother is represented as bringing a number of aprons and gloves into the lodge, the former appearing of considerable size and with long strings.” In Hogarth’s cartoon “Night”, drawn in 1737, the two Masonic figures, Crowe points out in another connection (see his “Things a Freemason should know”), “have aprons reaching to their ankles.” But other plates, of the same period, show aprons reaching only to the knee, thus marking the beginning of that process of shortening, and of general decrease in size and change in shape, which finally gave us the Apron of the present day; for since the garment no longer serves as a means of protection if has been found wise to fashion it in a manner more convenient to wear, not is this inconsistent with its original Masonic significance. It is this fact, as I have already suggested, that has made the present form of the Apron a result of circumstances, and proves how groundless are the interpretations founded on its shape. According to Blue Lodge usages in the United States the Apron must be of unspotted lambskin, 14 to 16 inches in width, 12 to 14 inches in depth, with a flap descending from the top some 3 or 4 inches. The Grand Lodge of England now specifies such an Apron as this for the First Degree, but requires the Apron of the Second Degree to have two sky-blue rosettes at the bottom and that of the Third Degree to have in addition to that a sky blue lining and edging not more than two inches deep, “and an additional rosette on the fall or flap, and silver tassels.” Grand Officers are permitted to use other ornaments, gold embroidery, and, in some cases, crimson edgings. All the evidence goes to show that these ornate Aprons are of recent origin. The Apron should always be worn outside the coat.

The Badge of a Mason.

“The thick-tanned hide, girt around him with thongs, wherein the Builder builds, and at evening sticks his trowel” was so conspicuous a portion of the costume of the operative mason that it became associated with him in the public mind, and this gradually evolved into his badge; for a badge is some mark voluntarily assumed as the result of established custom whereby one’s work, or station, or school of opinion, may be signified. Of what is the mason’s badge a mark? Surely its history permits but one answer to this — it is the mark of honorable and conscientious labor, the labor that is devoted to creating, to constructing rather than to destroying or demolishing. As such, the Mason’s Apron is itself a symbol of profound change in the attitude of society toward work, for the labor of hand and brain, once despised by the great of the earth, is rapidly becoming the one badge of an honorable life. If men were once proud to wear a sword, while leaving the tasks of life to slaves and menials, if they once sought titles and coats of arms as emblems of distinction, they are now, figuratively speaking, eager to wear the Apron, for the Knight of the present day would rather save life than take it, and prefers, a thousand times over, the glory of achievement to the glory of title or name. Truly, “the rank has become the guinea’s stamp, and a man’s a man for a’ that,’ especially if he be a man that can DO; and the real modern king, as Carlyle was always contending, is “the man who can.” I this is the message of the Apron, none has a better right to wear it than a Mason, if he be a real member of the Craft, for his is a Knight of labor if ever there was one. Not all labor deals with things.

There is a labor of the mind, and of the spirit, mor arduous, often, and more difficult, than any labor of the hands. He who dedicates himself to the cleaning of the Augean stables of the world, to the clearing away of the rubbish that litters the paths of life, to the fashioning of building stones in the confused quarries of mankind, is entitled, more than any man, to wear the badge of toil!

An Emblem of Innocence and Sacrifice.

W

hen the Candidate is invested with the garment he is told that it is an emblem of innocence. It is doubtful if Operative Lodges ever used it for such a symbolic purpose, though they may have done so in the Seventeenth Century, after Speculatives began to be received in greater numbers. The evidence indicates

10 S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e

that it was after the Grand Lodge era, and in consequence of the rule that the Apron should be of white lambskin, that Masons began to see in its color an emblem of innocence and in its texture a suggestion of sacrifice. In so doing they fell into line with ancient practices for of old, white “has been esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity.” Among the Romans an accused person would sometimes put on a garment of white to attest his innocence, white being, as Cicero phrased it, “most acceptable to the gods.” The candidates in the Mysteries and among the Essenes were similarly invested, and it has the same meaning of purity and innocence in the Bible which promises that though our sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow.

I

n the early Christian church the young catechumen (or convert) robed himself in white in token of his abandonment of the world and his determination to lead a blameless life. But there is no need to multiply instances for each of us feels by instinct that white is the natural symbol of innocence. Now it happens that “innocence” comes from a word meaning “to do no hurt” and this may well be taken as its Masonic definition, for it is evident that no grown man can be innocent in the sense that a child is, which really means an ignorance of evil. The INNOCENCE of a Mason is his gentleness, his chivalrous determination to do no moral evil to any person, man, or woman, or babe; his patient forbearance of the crudeness and ignorance of men; his charitable forgiveness of his brethren when they wilfully or unconsciously do him evil; his dedication to a spirt knighthood in behalf of the values and virtues of humanity by which alone man rises above the brute, and the world is carried forward on the upward way. It is in token of its texture - lambskin - that we find in the Apron the further significance of sacrifice, and this also, it seems, is a symbolism developed since 1700.

It has been generally believed until recently, that the Operatives used only leather aprons, and this was doubtless the case in the early days, but Crowe has shown that many of the oldest Lodge records evidence a use of linen as well. “In the old Lodge of Melrose,” he writes, “dating back to the Seventeenth Century, the aprons have always been of linen, and the same rule obtained in ‘Mary’s Chapel’ No. 1, Edinburgh, the oldest Lodge in the world; whilst Brother James Smithy, in his history of the old Dumfries Lodge, writes, ‘on inspecting the box of Lodge 53, there was only one apron of kid or leather, the rest being of linen.’

As these Lodges are of greater antiquity than any in England, I think a fair case is made our for linen, versus leather, originally.” It can not be said, however, that Brother Crowe has entirely made out his case, for other authorities contend that the builders who necessarily handled rough stone and heavy timbers must have needed a more substantial fabric than linen or cotton. But in any event, the Fraternity has been using leather Aprons for these two centuries, though cotton cloth is generally substituted for ordinary Lodge purposes, and it is in no sense far-fetched to see in the lambskin a hint of that sacrifice of which the lamb has so long been an emblem. But what do we mean by sacrifice? To answer this fully would lead us far afield into ethics and theology, but for our present purpose, we may say that the Mason’s sacrifice is the cheerful surrender of all that is in him which is un-masonic. If he has been too proud to meet others on the level he must lay aside his pride; if he has been too mean to act upon the square he must yield up his meanness; if he has been guilty of corrupting habits they must be abandoned, else his wearing of the Apron be a fraud and a sham.

Carrying with it so rich a freight age of symbolism the Apron may justly be considered “more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honorable than the Star and Garter,” for these badges were too often nothing more than devices of flattery and the insignia of an empty name. The Golden Fleece was an Order of Knighthood founded by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, on the occasion of his marriage to the Infanta Isabella of Portugal in 1429 or 1430. It used a Golden Ram for its badge and the motto inscribed on its jewel was “Wealth, not servile labor!” The Romans of old bore an eagle on their banners to symbolize magnanimity, fortitude, swiftness, and courage. The Order of the Star originated in France in 1350, being founded by John II in imitation of the order of the Garter; of the last named Order it is difficult to speak, as its origin is clothed in so much obscurity that historians differ, but it was as essentially aristocratic as any of the others. In every case, the emblem was a token of aristocratic idleness and aloofness, the opposite of that symbolized by the Apron; and the superiority of the latter over the former is too obvious for comment.

S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e 11

THE CHARGES OF A FREE-MASON, EXTRACTED FROM The Ancient RECORDS of LODGES beyond Sea, and of those in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the Use of the Lodges.

TO BE READ at The Making of NEW BRETHREN, or when the MASTER shall order it.

I. Concerning GOD and RELIGION. A Mason is obliged by his Tenure, to obey the moral Law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient Times Masons were charged in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet ‘tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remained at a perpetual Distance.

II. Of the CIVIL MAGISTRATES supreme and subordinate.

A Mason is a peaceable Subject to the Civil Powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in Plots and Conspiracies against the Peace and Welfare of the Nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior Magistrates; for as Masonry hath been always injured by War, Bloodshed, and Confusion, so ancient Kings and Princes have been much disposed to encourage the Craftsmen, because of their Peaceableness and Loyalty, whereby they practically answered the Cavils of their Adversaries, and promoted the Honour of the Fraternity, who ever flourished in Times of Peace. So that if a Brother should be a Rebel against the State he is not to be countenanced in his Rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy Man; and, if convicted of no other Crime though the loyal Brotherhood must and ought to disown his Rebellion, and give no Umbrage or Ground of political Jealousy to the Government for the time being; they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his Relation to it remains indefeasible.

III. Of LODGES. A LODGE is a place where Masons assemble and work: Hence that Assembly, or duly organized Society of Masons, is called a LODGE, and every Brother ought to belong to one, and to be subject to its By-Laws and the GENERAL REGULATIONS. It is either particular or general, and will be best understood by attending it, and by the Regulations of the General or Grand Lodge hereunto annexed. In ancient Times, no Master or Fellow could be absent from it especially when warned to appear at it, without incurring a sever Censure, until it appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure Necessity hindered him. The persons admitted Members of a Lodge must be good and true Men, free-born, and of mature and discreet Age, no Bondmen no Women, no immoral or scandalous men, but of good Report.

IV. Of Masters, WARDENS, Fellows and Apprentices.

All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real Worth and personal Merit only; that so the Lords may be well served, the Brethren not put to Shame, nor the Royal Craft despised: Therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by Seniority, but for his Merit. It is impossible to describe these things in Writing, and every Brother must attend in his Place, and learn them in a way peculiar to this Fraternity: Only Candidates may know that no Master should take an Apprentice unless he has sufficient Employment for him, and unless he be a perfect Youth having no Maim or Defect in his Body that may render him incapable of learning the Art of serving his Master’s LORD, and of being made a Brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due time, even after he has served such a Term of Years as the Custom of the Country directs; and that he should be descended of honest Parents; that so, when otherwise qualified he may arrive to the Honour of being the WARDEN, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand War-

12 S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e

den, and at length the GRAND MASTER of all the Lodges, according to his Merit.

No Brother can be a WARDEN until he has passed the part of a Fellow-Craft; nor a MASTER until he has acted as a Warden, nor GRAND WARDEN until he has been Master of a Lodge, nor Grand Master unless he has been a Fellow-Craft before his Election, who is also to be nobly born, or a Gentleman of the best Fashion, or some eminent Scholar, or some curious Architect, or other Artist, descended of honest Parents, and who is of similar great Merit in the Opinion of the Lodges. And for the better, and easier, and more honourable Discharge of his Office, the Grand-Master has a Power to choose his own DEPUTY GRAND-MASTER, who must be then, or must have been formerly, the Master of a particular Lodge, and has the Privilege of acting whatever the GRAND MASTER, his Principal, should act, unless the said Principal be present, or interpose his Authority by a Letter These Rulers and Governors, supreme and subordinate, of the ancient Lodge, are to be obeyed in their respective Stations by all the Brethren, according to the old Charges and Regulations, with all Humility, Reverence, Love and Alacrity.

V. Of the Management of the CRAFT in working.

All Masons shall work honestly on working Days, that they may live creditably on holy Days; and the time appointed by the Law of the Land or confirmed by Custom, shall be observed. The most expert of the FellowCraftsmen shall be chosen or appointed the Master or Overseer of the Lord’s Work; who is to be called MASTER by those that work under him. The Craftsmen are to avoid all ill Language, and to call each other by no disobliging Name, but Brother or Fellow; and to behave themselves courteously within and without the Lodge. The Master, knowing himself to be able of Cunning, shall undertake the Lord’s Work as reasonably as possible, and truly dispend his Goods as if they were his own; nor to give more Wages to any Brother or Apprentice than he really may deserve.

Both the Master and the Masons receiving their Wages justly, shall be faithful to the Lord and honestly finish their Work, whether Task or journey; nor put the work to Task that hath been accustomed to Journey.

None shall discover Envy at the Prosperity of a Brother, nor supplant him, or put him out of his Work, if he be capable to finish the same; for no Man can finish another’s Work so much to the Lord’s Profit, unless he be thoroughly acquainted with the Designs and Draughts of him that began it. When a Fellow-Craftsman is chosen Warden of the Work under the Master, he shall be true both to Master and Fellows, shall carefully oversee the Work in the Master’s Absence to the Lord’s profit; and his Brethren shall obey him.

VI. Of BEHAVIOUR, VIZ. 1. In the Lodge while constituted.

You are not to hold private Committees, or separate Conversation without Leave from the Master, nor to talk of anything impertinent or unseemly, nor interrupt the Master or Wardens, or any Brother speaking to the Master: Nor behave yourself ludicrously or jestingly while the Lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn; nor use any unbecoming Language upon any Pretense whatsoever; but to pay due Reverence to your Master, Wardens, and Fellows, and put them to worship.

If any Complaint be brought, the Brother found guilty shall stand to the Award and Determination of the Lodge, who are the proper and competent Judges of all such Controversies (unless you carry it by Appeal to the GRAND LODGE), and to whom they ought to be referred, unless a Lord’s Work be hindered the mean while, in which Case a particular Reference may be made; but you must never go to Law about what concerneth Masonry, without an absolute necessity apparent to the Lodge.

2. Behaviour after the LODGE is over and the Brethren not gone.

S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e 13

You may enjoy yourself with innocent Mirth, treating one another according to Ability, but avoiding all Excess, or forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his Inclination, or hindering him from going when his Occasions call him, or doing or saying anything offensive, or that may forbid an easy and free Conversation, for that would blast our Harmony, and defeat our laudable Purposes. Therefore no private Piques or Quarrels must be brought within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy, we being only, as Masons, we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds, and Languages, and are resolved against all Politics, as what never yet conducted to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoined and observed.

3. Behaviour when Brethren meet without Strangers, but not in a Lodge formed.

You are to salute one another in a courteous Manner, as you will be instructed, calling each other Brother, freely giving mutual instruction as shall be thought expedient, without being ever seen or overheard, and without encroaching upon each other, or derogating from that Respect which is due to any Brother, were he not Mason: For though all Masons are as Brethren upon the same Level, yet Masonry takes no Honour from a man that he had before; nay, rather it adds to his Honour, especially if he has deserved well of the Brotherhood, who must give Honour to whom it is due, and avoid ill Manners.

4. Behaviour in Presence of Strangers not Masons.

You shall be cautious in your Words and Carriage, that the most penetrating Stranger shall not be able to discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated, and sometimes you shall divert a Discourse, and manage it prudently for the Honour of the worshipful Fraternity.

5. Behaviour at Home, and in your Neighbourhood.

You are to act as becomes a moral and wise Man; particularly not to let your Family, Friends and Neighbors know the Concern of the Lodge, &c., but wisely to consult your own Honour, and that of the ancient Brotherhood, for reasons not to be mentioned here You must also consult your Health, by not continuing together too late, or too long from Home, after Lodge Hours are past; and by avoiding of Gluttony or Drunkenness, that your Families be not neglected or injured, nor you disabled from working.

6. Behaviour towards a strange Brother.

You are cautiously to examine him, in such a Method as Prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant, false Pretender, whom you are to reject with Contempt and Derision, and beware of giving him any Hints of Knowledge.

Amen so mote it be.

14 S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e

Messages Happy Birthday!

Congratulations from all your Scottish Rite brethren to our members over 90 who have reached a very important birthday!

November

December

Earl Conom

11/21/1921

Frank Piskur

12/28/1916

Joe Gruber

11/24/1921

Paul Russom

12/02/1918

Richard Speidel

11/27/1923

Joseph Haleva

12/19/1919

Clyde Filer

11/01/1924

John Majnarich 12/18/1921

W Christoffersen

11/16/1924

Charles King

12/14/1923

William Maloney

11/16/1924

Walter Russell

12/31/1923

Charles Simonson

11/08/1925

Haskel Howard

12/31/1925

T

Words of Wisdom

ake heed not to be transformed into a Caesar, not to be dipped in the purple dye, for it does happen. Keep yourself therefore, simple, good, pure, grave, unaffected, the friend of justice,

religious, kind, affectionate, strong for your proper work. Wrestle to be the man philosophy wished to make you. Reverence the gods, save men. Life is brief; there is but one harvest of earthly existence, a holy disposition and neighborly acts.

- Marcus Aurelius

S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e 15

C a l e n d a r

MONTH

www.seattle-scottishrite.org

TIME

EVENT

Saturday Nov. 12th

10:00 am

32nd Degrees (candidates arrive at 10:00 am)

Tuesday Nov. 15th

6:30 pm

Stated Meeting (Red, White & Blue) 50 year members!

9:00 am

ExCo meeting (Library)

November

December Saturday Dec. 3rd

No stated meeting or degrees in December. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

WANTED We are looking for one or two new members for our finance committee. Please see the General Secretary column on page 4 for more information.

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Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 1207 N 152nd St. Shoreline, WA 98133-6247

Periodicals Postage Paid USPS 485-660