Seattle Scottish Rite Communicator November - December 2019

Volume 66 No. 06

November-December 2019

Saints John Days - pg 7

Pillars

Brother Cooper

Get your Shirts

pg 2

pg 6

pg 10

2 Seattle Scottish Rite

Scottish Rite Communicator Valley of Seattle

www.seattle-scottishrite.org

SCOTTISH RITE OFFICERS Ill. James D. Cole, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander Ill. Alvin W. Jorgensen, 33° S:.G:.I:.G:, Orient of Washington

Presentation of the Pillars

Ill. Sat Tashiro, 33° Personal Rep. of S:.G:.I:.G:. pr@seattle-scottishrite.org

Long may this Lodge in prosperity shine And its members still vie with each other In spreading the light of our order divine And relieving the wants of a brother.

Daniel Southerland, 32° KCCH General Secretary Communicator Editor secretary@seattle-scottishrite.org

May envy and malice ne’er enter that door That is aye closely tyled to the cowan But peace, love and harmony aye be in store More abundant the older you’re growing.

Gene Ulrich, 32° KCCH Treasurer Ill. Tom Lamb, 33° Almoner PRESIDING OFFICERS Gale Kenney 33° Master of Kadosh, Consistory Adam Creighton 32° Commander, Council of Kadosh Bob Dearborn 32° KCCH Wise Master, Chapter of Rose Croix

May our Master who presides like the Masters of old In wisdom excel and astonish May he never be heard erring brothers to scold But with brotherly love aye admonish.

May our Warden in the West, like the sun’s setting rays Illumine the golden horizon May his strength never fail with the burden of days But increase every moment that flies on.

And to our Warden in the South, like the beauty of day May he gladden the worn, tired and weary Inspire with his smiles as they rest by the way The toilers, and make them feel cheery.

Bryan Reagan, 32° Venerable Master, Lodge of Perfection

And to you whom our Master is honoured to rule and instruct Be ye always sober and steady Expert in the use of each working tool And aye hae them handy and ready.

Seattle Scottish Rite Center 1207 N 152nd St. Seattle, WA 98133-6213 206 324-3330 voice 206 324-3332 fax

Thus will the Temple we seek to upraise Be completed when all do their duty And our voices unite in a chorus of praise To Wisdom, to Strength and to Beauty Robert Burns

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.

Seattle Scottish Rite 3

News from the Personal Representative

The falling leaves from the deciduous trees and summer bushes and their bare branches, and the dropping temperatures reminds us that we are well into the fall season with winter around the corner. It is also a reminder that another year is coming to a close.

With this issue of the Communicator, the leaders of the Seattle Valley bodies and the office staff wish all the valley members and their families the best of the holiday season and for a prosperous and healthy New Year.

Our 32° degree was held on October 20 to the Class of 2019. It was performed well and we want to extend our congratulations to our new Masters of the Royal Secret.

We will be hosting the annual Cap and Ring Ceremony on 7 November for the class of 2019 and invite all member of the Seattle Valley to be present at this second ceremony.

They will be receiving their Scottish Rite caps and rings from their friend/family/ladies. We are looking forward to their involvement in the activities of the Seattle Valley meetings. The pre-dinner fellowship will start at 5:30 PM, with dinner at 6:30 PM . Ladies will be invited. The dinner will be complimentary for the class of 2019 and their family. RSVP will be necessary, and only those who call into the office will be served. This is to assist in the planning and purchasing of the food, and avoid wastage or shortage. The dress will be formal, with tuxedo or dark suits for the men. The ceremony will follow dinner.

We will be having our stated meeting on 19 November, which will be our annual Red, White and Blue (RWB) Honor night, focusing on recognizing those brethren who have achieved their 50 years in the valley this year, and to thank the many KCCH and white hats for their continuing support of our valley. The business will include the election of the body officers for 2020, and a presentation of the 2020 budget by the Finance Committee.

The evening will be hosted by the Consistory and recognized as the Feast of Consistory evening.

Our monthly EXCOM will be held on 7 December rat 9 AM, followed by a non-terminal degree, the 28° , Knight Commander of the Sun of the Temple at 10:30 AM. This completes the degrees scheduled for our second year of our four-year cycle to perform all the Scottish Rite degrees.

All Scottish Rite members, including the class of 2019 and previous classes, who have not seen the degree, are invited to attend and get their passports stamped.

In December we have a special speaker from Scotland. This is the second visit to Seattle for Brother Robert Cooper, Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library, The Seattle Valley is organizing the trip and he will be visiting sister lodges while here. The Seattle Valley meeting will be held on 17 December and is open to Masons, ladies and guests. There will be a nominal charge of $20 per person

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. We had a particularly successful class this year, and hope we can have similar numbers for the class of 2020. Please invite those who may not be members to attend our upcoming Friends Night. I would encourage those in the class of 2019, in particular, to be our ambassadors to their home lodges and remind their friends of the formation of the class of 2020. Membership forms are available in the office.

Our three clubs, one in West Seattle and the two in the Eastside are active in their respective areas. No known meetings are currently scheduled for this holiday season. Please contact the following for changes and updates: Dean Markley, wdeanm@gmail.com for upcoming dates for the Eastside Master Craftsman Program, Ill. Bro. Brian Thomas, bjt19@comcast.net, for the Eastside Esoteric Club and Richard Syson, nosys@comcast. net, for the West Seattle Scottish Rite Club.

4 Seattle Scottish Rite

All Scottish Rite members of the Seattle Valley 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, consider attending 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 pre- and post-meeting fellowship time together. This is becoming the highlight of our time together.

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

The Life Structure Charles E. Whelan Upon the stones of yesterday are built the walls today Today shall be the yesterday when comes tomorrow′s sun.

Will now the plumb line show thy wall from rectitude doth sway?

Doth virtue′s square disclose thy work was yester poorly done?

Art thou ashamed that what thy life hath built, by level proved, Reveals divergence from the plan thy Maker gave to thee?

Build thou thy structure yet again, by earnest purpose moved, And by thy failures profit well, till stone to stone agree.

This moment and this hour are now within thy hands to mold And shape into the temple for the dwelling of thy soul.

God grant that when tomorrow comes, and finds thy story told, A fabric rare and beautiful may yet thy heart console.

Its walls four squared by character, strong grounded, broad and deep, To bear the weight of duty and withstand the storms of ill Its roof a shelter to thy brother when the shadows sweep The floors bright paved with kindly deeds, mosaic of good will.

The windows sending forth a light to break the midnight gloom That `round some soul starved traveler hangs heavy with despair A couch of love and sympathy within thy heart′s guest room And perfume of good cheer and hope to permeate the air.

5 Seattle Scottish Rite

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

Valley of Seattle

Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America 1207 N 152nd St. Shoreline, WA 98133 Telephone (206) 324-3330 ___________________________, 20______ Today's Date

TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF: SEATTLE LODGE OF PERFECTION

SEATTLE CHAPTER OF ROSE CROIX

SEATTLE COUNCIL OF KADOSH

SEATTLE CONSISTORY

I THE UNDERSIGNED, DO CERTIFY THE FOLLOWING TO BE TRUE AND CORRECT: MY FULL NAME IS ____________________________________________________________. MY AGE IS ______ YEARS. MY DATE OF BIRTH IS ________ ________ ________. I WAS BORN AT ________________________________________.

STATE OF _____. I CURRENTLY RESIDE AT _______________________________________________________________.

Address, City and State I HAVE RESIDED THERE FOR ____________ YEARS. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS _________________________________________________________________________________.

MY MAILING ADDRESS IS_______________________________________________________________________________.

Street address or Post Office Box City, State, & ZIP MY CURRENT TELEPHONE NUMBER IS (____)_______________________. SPOUSE NAME_______________________.

Area Code MY OCCUPATION IS _____________________________. I AM EMPLOYED BY __________________________________.

If retired, state previous occupation If retired, enter “Retired” I AM A MASTER MASON IN GOOD STANDING IN _________________________ LODGE NO. ___________ LOCATED AT ___________________________________ , UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF____________.

I WAS RAISED TO THE DEGREE OF MASTER MASON ON __________________________________________________.

Date you received third degree PLEASE ENTER YOUR CAP SIZE (IF KNOWN) __________.

PLEASE ENTER YOUR RING SIZE (IF KNOWN) __________.

Continued on other side

Page 1 of 1

Seattle Scottish Rite 6 What motivated you to join the Scottish Rite?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please indicate your interest in the following subjects. 

Scottish Rite Education



Scottish Rite Ritual



Esoteric Research & Education



Participation is Scottish Rite Degrees



Participation as an officer in one of the four bodies



Participation in Scottish Rite Committees, i.e. Finance, Building, etc.



Americanism (ROTC, JROTC)



Craft Lodge Education



Craft Lodge Ritual



Other ___________________________________________________

THE SUPREME COUNCIL REQUIRES ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES: THE INCULCATION OF PATRIOTISM, RESPECT FOR LAW AND ORDER, UNDYING LOYALTY TO THE PRINCIPLES OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. DO YOU APPROVE OF THESE PRINCIPLES? ________ YES ________ NO I HAVE NEVER PREVIOUSLY APPLIED FOR ANY OF THE SCOTTISH RITE DEGREES NOR FOR ANY MEMBERSHIP IN ANY BODY OF SCOTTISH RITE MASONS. (IF PREVIOUSLY APPLIED FOR MEMBERSHIP HERE OR ELSEWHERE, USE THE REVERSE SIDE OF THIS APPLICATION TO PROVIDE FULL DETAILS OF SAID APPLICATION, SPECIFICALLY INCLUDING THE SCOTTISH RITE BODIES TO WHICH APPLICATION WAS MADE, DATES THEREOF, AND RESULTS OF SAID APPLICATION ) I NOW RESPECTFULLY MAKE THIS APPLICATION TO RECEIVE THE DEGREES OF THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE OF FREEMASONRY, PROMISING ALWAYS TO BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE THIRTY-THIRD DEGREE OF THE SOUTHERN JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATED OF AMERICA. ________________________________________________________________________ (Signature)

PLEASE ATTACH A COPY OF YOUR CURRENT CRAFT LODGE DUES CARD PLEASE FILL IN ALL PROCEEDING BLANKS ================================================================================== RECOMMENDED BY: (TWO SCOTTISH RITE SPONSORS ARE NECESSARY) 1.____________________________________________________________________________________________ Printed Name Signature Address 2. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Printed Name Signature Address RECEIVED _________________________ REFERRED ____________________________ ELECTED __________________ Please include the $200.00 fee for the degrees plus $100.00 dues for the current year with your petition: Total of $300.00 *for petitioners under 31 years of age the fees are $125.00 plus $100.00 dues for the current year: Total of $225.00 The total fees for the 4°-32° degrees of the Scottish Rite include your 14° ring, 32° Scottish Rite hat, Master Craftsman book and materials, and A Bridge to Light: A study in Masonic Ritual & Philosophy.

Page 2 of 2

Seattle Scottish Rite 7

Greetings All,

Well we are now looking at fall as it comes to a close and winter is closing in and as usual we have been quite busy here at Seattle Valley. We are getting ready to present our newest 32° Brothers with their cap & rings on November 9th. This is usually a grand affair to see as we welcome them into our ranks. I know they have already been making their presence felt and we welcome the great new ideas each member brings in. This is the only way we will continue to grow as a valley and fraternity. I cant wait to see how involved you all get, and help us grow even better.

We are already looking to see what the class of 2020 will do as they start coming forward with their petitions. So if you know of any brother interested in becoming a Scottish Rite member talk with them and give them a petition as we have enclosed one. Invite them to dinner so they can get to know us and our great fraternity and all it has to offer. Remember, dinner is always on us for new petitioners.

I also have new membership packets here in the office.

We will be hosting Brother Robert Cooper, Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library on December 17th at 6:00 pm. This will be a dinner and presentation. Tickets are $20.00 and you need to RSVP so please let us know as soon as possible. Not only is he speaking here but at three other lodges in the area. The flyer for this event is in this issue along with his speaking schedule around the area and each evening is a different subject. We hope to see you all here.

So many of you know we have been going through a little remodel-expansion here at Seattle Valley. Our members lounge has become larger as we all know it needed to be. We have also added a new office for the General Secretary so now I am up front and look forward to greeting you as you come in. This also afforded our PR Sat a bigger office as we all know he needs the room to fit all his needs. He seems to be enjoying it quite well. So back to the lounge. We saw the need to have a bigger room as we fill it up after each meeting or event. It is great to see so many members stay and share such excellent fellowship with each other. As you know the room also houses a conference area with online conference capabilities. We do have a zoom account so this will make for great new possibilities. This also afforded us to expand our library with many more shelves to put the books we had in boxes out for all to use. If you haven’t already come in to see the new areas, plan to do so soon.

There are so many ways to get involved in the Scottish Rite and especially here in Seattle. We always say we need you all in one form or another. We know life gets busy and as always family is first as it should be. So even if you don’t have the time you would like to contribute a little goes a long way.

Maybe you would like to be our librarian? We need a lover of books and some one who would like to organize. That is just one way so lets get you involved in it all. Remember the KSA is always looking new members. How would you like to get involved?

I know its a little early but I just want to wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years as we draw closer to the holidays. Always remember how the little things we do for our fellow man makes a big difference even if we don’t think it will. Just a little time spent and that extra effort may change some ones outlook. Thank you to all of you who have taken that time or effort to brighten a day.

Fraternally, Daniel Southerland, 32° KCCH General Secretary

8 Seattle Scottish Rite

Seattle Scottish Rite invites Masons, Wives and Friends to a

SPECIAL DINNER MEETING DECEMBER 17TH, 2019 AT 6.00PM

An Evening with Bro. Robert L. D. Cooper Curator of Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library Robert Cooper was initiated in The Lodge of Light, No. 1656 and is a Founder Member and Past Master of Lodge Edinburgh Castle, No. 1764 over which he presided in 1998. He has just completed a two-year term as Master of Lodge Sir Robert Moray, No. 1641 the premier Scottish Lodge of Research and was Master of the Premier Research Lodge AQC No. 2076 in 2013. He is also member of many Masonic organizations. He is the author of numerous articles on all aspects of Freemasonry and lectures widely on Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, Rosslyn Chapel, the St. Clair family etc. He is a frequent visitor to the USA having given presentations in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Washington D.C. Bro. Cooper has appeared in several television programs including, for example, the documentary: ‘The Real da Vinci Code.’ He has been a frequent guest on Radio not only in the UK but also in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Seattle Scottish Rite Masonic Center 1207 N 152nd Street, Shoreline, WA 98133

Tickets $20

Tickets must be reserved November 15th

by calling, mailing or e-mailing Scottish Rite Office, 1207 N 152nd Street, Shoreline, WA 98133 Phone: (206) 324-3330 Secretary@seattle-scottishrite.org

PROGRAM

6.00pm Social Time 7:00pm Dinner 8.00pm ONE MAN’S ATTEMPT AT MASONIC IMMORALITY (In the San Juan Islands)

Seattle Scottish Rite 9

SPECIAL SPEAKING TOUR DECEMBER 17TH TO 20TH, 2019

SPONSORED BY SEATTLE SCOTTISH RITE, LODGE ALBA#315/DELTA-WHITE CENTER #172, ASHLAR LODGE #121, AND WALTER F. MEIER LODGE OF RESEARCH #281

Presentations by Bro. Robert L. D. Cooper Curator of Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library Robert Cooper was initiated in The Lodge of Light, No. 1656 and is a Founder Member and Past Master of Lodge Edinburgh Castle, No. 1764 over which he presided in 1998. He has just completed a two-year term as Master of Lodge Sir Robert Moray, No. 1641 the premier Scottish Lodge of Research and was Master of the Premier Research Lodge AQC No. 2076 in 2013. He is also member of many Masonic organizations. He is the author of numerous articles on all aspects of Freemasonry and lectures widely on Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, Rosslyn Chapel, the St. Clair family etc. He is a frequent visitor to the USA having given presentations in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Washington D.C. Bro. Cooper has appeared in several television programs including, for example, the documentary: ‘The Real da Vinci Code.’ He has been a frequent guest on Radio not only in the UK but also in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. He has recently been a featured speaker at Scottish Rite and AQCC Conferences in Washington DC and Alexandria.

PROGRAM Tuesday 17th,

SCOTTISH RITE

206 324 3330

seattle-scottishrite.org

Wednesday 18th ALBA/DELTA-WHITE 425 786 1897

VWJIM@SCARDELIS.ORG

Thursday 19th

ASHLAR

425 486 1693 bothellmasons.org

Friday 20th

206 858 1040

“One Man’s Attempt at Masonic Immortality” “The Oldest Masonic Rituals in the World” 206 433-9888

DELTAMASONICHALL.ORG

“Rosslyn Chapel – What most Masons Think about KT”

WALTER F. MEIER

walterfmeier281.org

“Why UGLE was NOT Founded in 1717”

For further information please contact respective Lodge

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

Saints John Days Among the many fascinating angles of the Ancient Craft are the numerous facts yet to be discovered.

Masonic history discloses greater and greater gaps as we go back into the far past. The Ancient mine of Masonic symbolism stills yields the gold of truth to him who knows how to delve, but many and various are the Masonic customs, words, rituals and ideas for which we have as yet no complete explanation.

Among these is the dedication of the Lodges to the Holy Sts. John. No satisfactory explanation has yet been advanced to explain why operative masons adopted these two Christian saints, when St. Thomas, the very Patron of architecture and building, was available as patron of our Order.

Most Freemasons who give the matter thought are well agreed that the choice of our Ancient Brethren was wise.

No two great teachers, preachers, wise men, saints, could have been found who better shadow forth from their lives and works the doctrine and teachings of Freemasonry. But to be happy that the Holy Sts. John, in character and attainments, are typical of all that is best in Freemasonry, is not to know how and why the Fraternity came to select them. Where the great students and researchers of the Masonic world have failed, he must be fool indeed who would rush in to explain. Yet there is an explanation somewhere, if we can but find it. St. John the Evangelist apparently came into our Fraternal system somewhere towards the close of the sixteenth century, at least, we find the earliest authentic Lodge Minute reference to St. John the Evangelist in Edinborough in 1599, although earlier mentions are made in connection with what may be called relatives, if not ancestors, of our Craft. For instance, the Fraternity of St. John existed in Cologne in 1430.

St. Johns Masonry is a distinctive term for Scotch Lodges, many of the older of which took the name of the Saint.

Thus in its early records the Lodge of Scoon and Perth is often called the Lodge of St. John, and the Lodge possesses to this day a beautiful mural painting of the Saint on the east wall of the Lodge Room. Other Lodges denominated St. John Lodges were some of those unaffiliated with either the Moderns or the Ancients in the period between the schism of the Mother Grand Lodge (1751) and the reconciliation (1813).

In many old histories of the Craft is a quaint legend that St. John the evangelist became a Grand Master at the age of ninety. It seems to have its origin in a book printed in 1789, in which one Richard Linnecar of Wakefield write certain strictures on Freemasonry, although his paper is really a Eulogy. Whether this Ancient Freemason really continued a tradition, or invented the tale that was seized upon by Oliver and kept alive as a legend, impossible though it is, no man may say as yet.

One Grand Lodge has ruled that Sts. John Days are Landmarks! Of course any Grand Lodge may make its own laws, but it is beyond the power of any Grand Lodge either to make a Landmark by pronouncement, or to make a Landmark by denying it. Inasmuch as Landmarks, whatever else they may be, are universally admitted to be handed down to us from time immemorial, and Sts. Johns Days as Masonic festivals are neither extremely old nor universal among the Craft (England using Wednesday after St. Georges Day, Scotland St. Andrews Day and Ireland St. Patricks Day), we must consider only this Grand Lodges intent to honor our patron saints, and the validity of her results. Historians believe that only after 1717 when the Mother Grand Lodge was formed, did Freemasonry generally hold festival meetings on either or both, June 24th and December 27th. Perhaps the real explanation of Freemasonrys connection with the Sts. John is not to be found in the history of the Craft but in the history of religions. For the festival days of the two Sts. John are far older than Christianity as old as the ancient systems of worship of fire and sun.

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

It is here too, that we find the beauty and the glory of the reverent practice of dedicating Lodges, erected to God, to the Holy Sts. John. Travel backwards in imagination to an unknown date when the world of men was young when knowledge did not exist and the primal urges of all humanity were divided between the satisfaction of bodily needs - hunger, thirst, warmth, light - and the instincts of self-preservation, mating, and the love of children. The men of that far off age found everything in nature a wonder. They understood not why the wind blew, what made the rain, from whence came lightning, thunder, cold and warmth why the sun climbed the heavens in the morning and disappeared at night, or what the stars might be. As is natural for all primitive people, they tried to explain all mysteries in terms of their daily lives. When angry, their emotions resulted in loud shouts and a desire to kill. What more natural than to think that thunder and lightning the anger of the Unknown who held their lives and well being in His hands? Stronger than his enemy, ancient man bundled him out of his cave into the open, where he froze or starved or was eaten by the beasts. What more natural than to think the wind, the rain, the cold, a manifestation of an Unseen Presence which was angered at them?

The greatest manifestation of nature known to these ancient ancestors of ours was the sun. It never failed. It was always present during the day, and it near kin, fire, warmed and comforted them at night. Under its gentle rays crops grew and rivers rose. The sun kept away the wild beasts by his light. The sun made their lives possible.

Sun worship and fire worship were as natural for men just struggling into understanding as the breath they drew to live. Earliest among the facts recognized about the sun must have been its slow travel from north to south and back again as the seasons waxed and waned. And so Midsummer s day, the longest day, became a festival it was the harbinger of harvest, the very birthday of new life. Its opposite was equally inevitable the winter solstice was significant of the end of the slow decline of the sun, the beginning of a new time of warmth and crop and happiness. Through the countless years, in a thousand religions, cults, mysteries, in a hundred climes and lands, priests and people celebrated the solstices. We know it not only from history and the records of ancient peoples, often cut upon stone but from myths and legends the story of Ceres and her search for her daughter Propsperpine, and the allegory of Isis, Osiris and Horus. Ancient custom is taken from a people with difficulty. In the height of our civilization today we retain thousands of customs the origin of which is lost to most of us. We speak glibly of Yuletide at Christmas, without thinking of an ancient Scandinavian God, Juul. The small boy avers truth By Golly! Not knowing that he offers his hand (gol) if he speaks not the truth. Those who think it bad luck to break a mirror but continue a savage belief that a stone thrown in water which mirrors the face of an enemy will break his heart even as the reflection is broken. If such ideas persist to this day, imagine how strenuously a people would resist giving up a holiday celebration which their fathers and their fathers before them had kept for untold ages.

So it was when Christianity came to the world. Feasts and festival days of a hoary antiquity were not lightly to be given up, even by those who put their faith upon a cross. It was of no use for the early Church to ban a pagan festival. Old habit was too strong, old ideas too powerful. Hence clever and thoughtful men in the early days of Christianity turned the pagan festivals to Christian usage, and the olden celebrations of summer and winter solstices became the Sts. John Days of the Middle Ages.

As the slow years past, those who celebrated thought less and less of what the days really commemorated, and became more and more convinced of their new character. Today, hardly a Freemason gives a thought to the origin of St. Johns Day in Winter, or knows his celebration of St. Johns Day in Midsummer preserves a touch with cave men ancestors.

Fairbanks Greek Religion indicates that this transfer of meaning of festival days from a pagan implication to a Christian significance was not confined to the Sts. John. He writes:

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

As the slow years past, those who celebrated thought less and less of what the days really commemorated, and became more and more convinced of their new character. Today, hardly a Freemason gives a thought to the origin of St. Johns Day in Winter, or knows his celebration of St. Johns Day in Midsummer preserves a touch with cave men ancestors.

Fairbanks Greek Religion indicates that this transfer of meaning of festival days from a pagan implication to a Christian significance was not confined to the Sts. John. He writes: That in Greece itself ancient rites should persist under the cover of the new religion, and that the ancient deities or heroes should reappear as Christian Saints, is hardly surprising to one who considers the summary method by which Christianity became the established religion. It was not so difficult to make the Parthenon a Christian Church when the virgin goddess of wisdom was supplanted by a St. Sophia (Wisdom), then by the Virgin Mary. Similarly, Apollo was more than once supplanted by St. George, Poseidon

by St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, Asculapius by St. Michael and St. Damian, and in Grottos where Nymphs had been worshipped, female saints received similar worship from the same people. It was a common custom in the Middle Ages for craftsmen of all kinds top place themselves under the protection of some saint of the church. Our greatest historian, Gould, puts this in a paragraph, thus: None of the London trades appear to have formed fraternities without ranging themselves under the banner of some saint, and if possible they chose one who bore a fancied relation to their trade. Thus the fishmongers adopted St. Peter the drapers chose the Virgin Mary, mother of the Holy Lamb or Fleece as an emblem of that trade.

The goldsmiths patron was St. Dunstan, represented to have been a brother artisan. The merchant tailors, another branch of the draping business, marked their connection with it by selecting St. John the Baptist, who was the harbinger of the '€˜Holy Lamb'€™ so adopted by the drapers eleven or more of the guilds had John the Baptist as their patron saint, and several of them, while keeping June 24th as their head day, also met in December 27th, the corresponding feast of the Evangelist.

To say with certainty why Freemasons adopted the two Sts. John, and continue to celebrate days as principal feast which were once of a far different significance than was given them by the early fathers of the church Gregory, Thaumaturgus, St. Augustine, Gregory the Great - is not in the power of any historian or student as yet. Further light must be had. But the fitness of these two in our system is obvious if we consider the spiritual suggestion of their lives.

St. John the Baptist was a stern and just man intolerant of sham, of pretense, of weakness a man of strength and fire, uncompromising with evil or expediency, and yet withal courageous, humble, sincere, magnanimous. A character at once heroic and of nobility, of him the Greatest of Teachers said:Among them that are born of woman, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.of St. John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved, a thousand books have been written, and student has vied with minister, teacher with historian, to find words fitly to describe the character of the gentle writer of the Fourth Gospel. No attempt at rivalry will here be made suffice it that St. John the Evangelist is recognized the world over as the apostle of love and light, the bringer of comfort to the grief-ridden, of courage to the weak, of help to the helpless and of strength to the falling.

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

It is not for us to evaluate the character of either saint in terms of the other it is for us to agree only that Freemasonry is wise in a gentle wisdom which passeth that in books when she takes for her own both the saint who fore-told the coming of the saint who taught the law of the Son of Man who walked by Galilee. Consider thus, from being an historical and fraternal puzzle, the Sts. John and their connection with Freemasonry becomes as plain as the light which was the central fact of the old religion which the solstitial days commemorated. And it at once makes plain that part of our ritual which so puzzles the initiate the question From Whence Come You and the answer from the Lodge of the Holy Sts. John of Jerusalem.

Many have phrased the simple explanation of the inner meaning of this passage none with more beauty and clarity than Brother Joseph Fort Newton, he of the golden pen and the voice of music: The allusion has nothing to do with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. To our thought - which we give for what it is worth - its meaning is mystical, in somewhat the following manner: The legends of the Craft associate the two Saints John with its fellowship, as Masters , if not Grand Masters the one a prophet of righteousness, the other an evangelist of love - the basic principles and purposes of Masonry.

Of course, there is no historical evidence that either of the two Saints of the church were ever members of the Craft. But they were adopted as its patron Saints, after the manner of former times - a good manner it is, too - and they have remained so in Christian lands. Lodges are dedicated to them, instead of to King Solomon, as formerly.

So, naturally, there came the idea, or ideal, of a sacred Lodge in the Holy City presided over by the Saints John.

No such Lodge ever existed in fact, and yet it is not a fiction - it is an ideal, and without such ideals our life would be dim and drab. The thought back of the question and answer, then, is that we come from an ideal or Dream Lodge into this actual work-a-day world, where our ideals are to be tested.

Our journey is ever towards the East, back towards the ideal, which seems lost in the hard, real world round about us. Still, we must plod on, following what we have seen, ever trying to find the ideal in the real, or to bring the ideal to the interruption of the real which is the whole secret and quest of human life. He is wise, and must be accounted brave, who keeps his memory or vision of the Lodge on the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem.

In a few words and short we do not know just when, or just how, Freemasonry adopted the Sts. John. Their days are the Christian adaptation of pagan festivals of a time when man, knowing no better, worshipped the sun as the supreme God. So when we celebrate out festival days on June 24th and December 27th, we walk eye to eye and step by step with our ancient ancestors, worshipping as they worshipped, giving thanks as they did they to the only God they knew for the glory of summer, the beginning of the period when days lengthened - we to the G.A.O.T.U. that our gentle Craft took for its own the austere but loving characters of two among the greatest of the saintly men who have taught of the Father of all mankind.

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

Joseph Haleva 12/19/1919

Richard Speidel 11/27/1923

Haskel Howard 12/31/1925

William Maloney 11/16/1924

Frederick Oliver 12/12/1927

Floyd Klinkenberg 11/12/1927

James Osnes 12/03/1928

Clarence Mc Daniel 11/26/1928

Donald King 12/25/1928

Robert Herman 11/06/1929

William Edwards 12/10/1929

Edward Tolford 11/07/1929

Roy Heberling 12/23/1929 Raymond Horn 12/24/1929

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

www.seattle-scottishrite.org

MONTH TIME EVENT November 2

9:00 am

Excom Meeting

November 9

6:00 pm

32° Cap & Ring Ceremony

November 19

6:30 pm

Stated Meeting (Elections & Budget)

November 28 & 29 Seattle SR Offices Closed Happy Thanksgiving December 7

9:00 am

Excom Meeting

December 7

10:30 am

28th Degree

December 17

6:00 pm

Robert Cooper Presentation & Dinner

December 24 - January 2 Seattle SR Offices Closed Happy Holidays

* All events subject to change.

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