California Division IX Masonic Calendar of Events
Title: SW Hackett Stated Meeting
Description: Stated Meeting dress code changes July Hawaiian shirts and slacks
Date: 2009-07-07
Title: Past Masters Association Flag Day Breakfast
Location: At Scottish Rite
Start Time: 9 am
Date: 2009-06-14
Title: Teacher of the Year (SW Hackett)
Location: SW Hackett 574
Description: SW Hackett 574 June Stated Meeting dress code changed back to Tuxes
Date: 2009-06-02
We Thank Mercedes Alo for Sharing these images from the Saturday Night Formal Dinner Dance hosted by Right Worshipful Bill Bray and His Lady Linda.
Much knowledge was imparted and received by all who attended this event and then there was time for refreshment...
Corn, Wine & Oil - Tyler’s Toast
At our April Stated Meeting Wor. Achenbach delivered a presentation for Masonic Education regarding “Corn, Wine & Oil”. After the meeting, at our “Tyler’s Toast”, we we all enjoyed some bread and beverage along with Extra Virgin Olive Oil supplied by Brother Timothy Wood of Wood Ranch Estate.
Bro. Wood was featured in the FREEMASON magazine (Dec/Jan 2009) and after enjoying some of the oil at home with his family, Wor. Achenbach decided to bring in a bottle to share with the Lodge.
Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton , Colorado , was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.
They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:
" Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out f or answers..
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days tha t followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.
"
Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your
Own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
Was John the Baptist the cousin of Jesus of Nazareth?
Brethren and Ladies as we spend much time contemplating the Holy Saints John I thought I would share some of the research I have dug up on the Baptist. Some of it is controversial speculation but interesting none-the-less...
John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary who visited her.
He was probably born at Ain-Karim southwest of Jerusalem after the Angel Gabriel had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even though she was an old woman. He lived as a hermit in the desert of Judea until about A.D. 27. When he was thirty, he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan against the evils of the times and called men to penance and baptism "for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand".
According to Albert Pike in
"Knight of the East and West" St. John the Baptist was likely a member of the Essene sect as he followed their ascetic doctrine. Pike further says that his teachings like those of the Essenes were truths gathered from India, Persia and elsewhere from the east as well as from Pythagoras and other Greek thinkers. Thus Masons carry on with these truths taught by John the Baptist, The Essenes and others now gone.
"... and the old faiths have faded into oblivion. But Masonry still survives, vigorous and strong, as when philosophy was taught in the schools of Alexandria and under the Portico; teaching the same old truths as the Essenes taught by the shores of the Dead Sea, and as John the Baptist preached in the Desert; truths imperishable as the Deity, and undeniable as Light. Those truths were gathered by the Essenes from the doctrines of the Orient and the Occident, from the Zend-Avesta and the Vedas, from Plato and Pythagoras, from India, Persia, Phoenicia, and Syria, from Greece and Egypt, and from the Holy Books fo the Jews. Hence we are called Knights of the East and West, because their doctirnes came from both."
Edmond Szekely is an eminent scholar and author of numerous works on this subject including
. Szekely obtained access to Aramaic documents in the Vatican archives in Rome, and corroborated his translations with other ancient Greek and Hebrew documents (and confirmed by the writings later discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls) surmised that both lived and studied at Qum Rum, that this is where Jesus "lost years" were spent, at the monastary of the Essenes by the Dead Sea where the scrolls were undoubtedly written, then sealed up and buried for eons.
The finding of these long lost Essene documents have created a problem as they mirror the story of the passion play in the Gospels of the bible. They follow the ministry of one called only "Master" in the scrolls, but who also speaks the Sermon on the Mount and ends with the Master being crucified before Passover. Szekely states that the problem for the orthodox churches lies in carbon dating of these scrolls, which dates them 100-years prior to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
At any rate Jesus and John were cousins. Mary mother of Jesus was the sister of Elizabeth mother of John, and Mary and Elizabeth have been tied to the Essene sect by scholars. That John and Jesus were preaching different doctrines is unlikely. In fact it was probably orchestrated, as the church of Rome teaches that John the Baptist was to lead the way for Christ.
This is the account from Catholic.org: "He attracted large crowds, and when Christ came to him, John recognized Him as the Messiah and baptized Him, saying, "It is I who need baptism from You". When Christ left to preach in Galilee, John continued preaching in the Jordan valley. Fearful of his great power with the people, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, had him arrested and imprisoned at Machaerus Fortress on the Dead Sea when John denounced his adultrous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, wife of his half brother Philip.
John was beheaded at the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias, who asked for his head at the instigation of her mother. John inspired many of his followers to follow Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God," among them Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's preaching. John is presented in the New Testament as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast day is June 24th and the feast for his beheading is August 29th."
Fraternally Yours,
Steve Laurvick
Junior Warden
SW Hackett #574
by Anonymous
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat.
It was going to be a long flight.. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought. Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me.
I decided to start a conversation. 'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.
'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan.
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars.
It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.. As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch.
'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to base '
His friend agreed. I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly.
Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for him.' Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated.
She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?
' 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked.
She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. 'This is your thanks.'
After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.
Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, an said, 'I want to shake your hand.'
Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm. When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane.
Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars! Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base.
I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.' Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country.
I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little... A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'
Freemasons in midst of popularity, membership boom
The secretive society gains a higher, hipper profile as younger men seek out a place for fraternal bonding.
By Adam Tschorn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 18, 2008
IN LOS FELIZ, across from a 7-Eleven on North Vermont Avenue, a few dozen men in their early 20s to late 80s share a dinner behind closed doors. Some wear full tuxedos with bow ties and jeweled cuff links, some have shoulder-length hair, and others wear open-collared shirts that reveal the slightest filigree of tattoo arching across their chests.
Over Italian food, retired lawyers and judges sit elbow-to-elbow with owners of scrap metal yards and vintage clothing boutiques. They hold forth on philosophy, the weather; they rib each other and joke about saving room for cannoli. As they reach for seconds, they reveal skull-cracking rings emblazoned with a compass and a square.
Meet the millennial Masons. As secret societies go, it is one of the oldest and most famous. Its enrollment roster includes Louis Armstrong and Gerald Ford, and it has been depicted in movies such as “The Da Vinci Code” and “National Treasure.” Once more than 4 million strong (back in the 1950s), it has been in something of a popularity free-fall ever since. Viewed with suspicion as a bastion of antiquated values and forced camaraderie, the Masons have seen membership rolls plummet more than 60% to just 1.5 million in 2006.
Only now the trend seems to be reversing itself, and nowhere more noticeably than in Southern California. The reasons seem clear. In another Masonic Hall, this one on La Cienega, a Sri Lankan-born banker, a sunglasses-wearing Russian immigrant and a continent-hopping Frenchman break bread, poke at their salads and chat about their health.
"For a time it looked as if Masonry was going into a sharp decline, if not the death throes," said UCLA history professor Margaret C. Jacob, who has written extensively about the fraternal order. "But it looks like it may be making a comeback."
That's because the Freemasons, whose tenets forbid soliciting or recruiting members, have enthusiastically embraced the Internet as a way to leverage curiosity about an organization with its roots in Europe's medieval stonemasons guilds. Freemasonry today sees itself as a thinking man's salon, a learned society with a philanthropic bent.
"We had a record number of new members last year," said Allan Casalou, grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of California. "We added 2,000 men, which is the most since 1998 and our seventh straight year of membership increases."
And, to paraphrase that Oldsmobile campaign, these definitely aren't your father's Freemasons. They are bar owners, male models and olive-oil brokers. They are men like Zulu, an L.A. tattoo artist with a swirling Maori-inspired design inked across his face and a panoply of metal piercing his ears, nose and face. They are men like Jonathan Kanarek, who runs a men's vintage clothing store on Hollywood Boulevard and whose retro chic wardrobe of polka-dot ascots, glen-plaid jackets and smartly pressed pocket squares earned him a spot on Esquire magazine's 2007 list of best-dressed real men in America. And they are men like Daemon Hillin, whose surfer-dude looks and blinding white smile can be found on Japanese TV, where he plays sidekick and comic foil to the Japanese version of the Hilton sisters.
They are also all men who want to be part of an all-for-one and one-for-all brotherhood built on shared ideals, philosophical pursuits and a penchant for rings, aprons and funny hats. As Zulu bluntly put it: "I joined because I was looking for people to hang with that were like-minded but also hip and cool, and a lot of tattoo artists tend to be drunks and druggies."
Hillin, who originally joined the Masons in Temecula, moved to L.A. and is interested in the Santa Monica-Palisades Lodge No. 307, one of the youngest and most diverse congregations in the state (the average age of active brothers is just 33). The lodge's senior deacon, Jim Warren, calls it " 'Star Trek' without the chicks." "We have every possible national origin, ethnicity and religious denomination you could imagine," he said.
Warren credits the Internet. "We were one the first lodges in the state to have a website up," he said. "That led to a huge spike in membership."
Other lodges followed suit, putting up their own sites and drawing a crowd. That's how prospective Mason Johnny Royal ended up at the door of Elysian Lodge No. 418 last month. Intrigued by the distinctive Masonic architecture that graces most halls, the 31-year-old publicist with sideburns to his chin and hair to his shoulders and a Renaissance lute player tattoo on his right forearm hit the Web.
What he read about the Masonic ideals -- wisdom, strength, beauty and the pursuit of knowledge -- made him decide to pursue membership. "My generation wants to be part of something beyond itself," Royal said. "I want to learn; I want to participate."
The Web generation
THE INTERNET hasn't only made it easier to learn about the Freemasons, Casalou says, it's changed the type of men coming forward. "There is so much information on the Internet that by the time someone comes to a lodge to seek membership, they already know a lot about Masonry," he said. "Which is a big departure from previous generations. And it means they are more likely to be active participants."
Zulu became curious about Freemasonry after tattooing Masonic symbology on several clients. He joined five years ago at age 39 and now serves as webmaster and senior warden of North Hollywood Lodge No. 542. He has also gone on to become both a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner (Masonic membership is a prerequisite for both), and next year he will become the leader of his lodge. "I'll be the first black worshipful master in the lodge's history," he said, using the proper term of respect.
But he probably won't be the last. Because California's contingent of Freemasons is expected to grow, the average age of its members, once 71 and now 65, is expected to drop. By 2018, as Casalou predicts, the state will be awash in 55-year-old pre-retirement Masons giving each other secret handshakes, wearing ritual aprons and invoking the Grand Architect of the Universe.
The Internet continues to help. Zulu said that he gets at least four e-mails a week from prospective Masons around the globe who see his tattooed and pierced visage at the lodge website and want to be reassured such an alternative look isn't a barrier to membership.
"Yeah, I think it's going to become hip and chic to be a Mason," Zulu said. "And that could be a dangerous thing."
adam.tschorn@latimes.com
How to Define Tolerance
Author: http://www.sandiegofreemason.com
To be tolerant is to learn to respect the opinions of others though they may diverge from ones own belief system.
The human family is diverse. The principles guiding value systems in each society are different. And while one may not agree with some aspect of another persons cultural interpretation of morality or justice, to be tolerant would require one to work at accepting and understanding it.
Thus tolerance is the acceptance of something an individual disagrees with. Hence tolerance is so highly regarded in Freemasonry for it is vital to its existence. Acceptance of others' spiritual beliefs and traditions without being required to share them is the cornerstone of our fraternity.
Tolerance is the highest of masonic moral dictates. In one of the earliest speculative masonic texts (the Ahiman Rezon, or The Book of Constitutions of the Ancient Grand Lodge of England written in 1756 by Laurence Dermott) the first charge does not mention tolerance but defines it:
"...In antient Times, the Christian Masons were charged to comply with the Christian Usages of each Country where they travelled or worked; being found in all Nations, even of divers Religions.
They are generally charged to adhere to that Religion in which all Men agree (leaving each Brother to his own particular Opinion): that is, to be good Men and true, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Names, Religions, or Persuasions they may be distinguished for they all agree in the three great Articles of Noah, enough to preserve the Cement of the Lodge.
Thus masonry is the Center of their Union, and the Happy Means of consiliating Persons that otherwise must have remained at a perpetual Distance."
We are taught in Freemasonry to understand that each brother is different but equal.
We are also charged to, "Love your God with all of your heart, and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself."
In contemplating tolerance as an actuality one would logically adhere several attributes to achieving tolerant behavior. An ability to forgive others, sympathize with their peculiar circumstance, and the patience to reflect upon differences rather than react would seem mandatory to effecting a tolerant attitude.
If put into effect in everyday life, tolerance of others beliefs and respect for their equal right to believe something we may not agree with, will translate into a higher form of personal existence.
The spread of this practice among individuals of all cultures can only lead to a higher degree of mutual respect among nations and a more peaceful world.
To give this rationale crystal clarity one need only look at the antithesis of the idea of tolerance.
Who embraces intolerance?
Certain names spring to mind- Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and other infamous authoritarian figures of the 20th century come to mine. Ideologies also emerge- the Ku Klux Klan, Skin Heads, Nazis and Radical Islamic Militants.
An Austrian brother visited our lodge a couple of years ago and presented the master with a pin. The pin had the representation of a forget-me-not flower on it.
The brother explained that it was symbolic of Austrian Freemasonry for he said the first thing Hitler did to consolidate his power was detain and murder prominent Freemasons in Germany and Austria.
Hitler could not allow Freemasonry to exist because the Nazi philosophy was entirely based on the inequality of human species and intolerance of those races deemed inferior.
Thus the forget-me-not is a symbol of remembrance on the pin. It is to remind us of the danger of allowing intolerance into our own lives and society as well as the need to regularly incorporate tolerance into our hearts and minds.
By Steve Laurvick ...
