Each year I wait with great anticipation for the annual issue of Heredom, the transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society. And, like the father in "Jabberwocky," I chortle in my joy when it arrives. This issue, volume 8, like the day, is "frabjous"!
Dr. S. Brent Morris, 33°, G.C., does a really first-rate job of editing this publication. If you are not a member of the Research Society, "Why stand you here? Advance, sir, and that with all speed!" Heredom by itself is worth much more than the pittance in dues each year ($20.00 annual; $300 life, individuals only), and there are bonus books and other benefits to boot. (See below.) This issue of Heredom is especially dear to many of us because it also serves as a memorial to Ill. Duane E. Anderson, 33°. Those of us who were privileged to know him are still trying to recover from the sense of loss caused by the death of this most gentle of men and profound of Masonic scholars.
The first paper in this issue of Heredom is "Royal Arch: The Fourth Degree of the Grand Lodge of the Antients," by Yasha Beresiner, 18°. The paper was written as the Batham Royal Arch Lecture for the year 2000, and it is scholarship of the first water. Brother Beresiner traces the appearance of the Royal Arch Degree with its uncertain beginnings through the union of the Antients and Moderns Grand Lodges in 1813. The article reads like a detective story and provides a great deal of excellent information.
This paper is followed by "Farewell to the Lodge" by Dan Fost, an overview of the changing attitudes and demographics in America which impact membership in organizations like Masonry as well as reflect on the increasingly insular lifestyles spawned by television and the Internet.
"The Early Years of the Grand Consistory of Louisiana (1811–1815) by Michael Poll, 32°, is best summed up in words from the paper itself. "Dry it is not." Most Scottish Rite Masons have never heard of a Grand Consistory, and, unfortunately, the relationships between Consistories, Grand Consistories, and Supreme Councils are too complex to trace out here. But Brother Poll has done a fine job of bringing together the threads of the story, which sometimes seems to be a spy thriller, sometimes seems to more resemble a children's story, and sometimes has the elements of a National Enquirer lead story. But, convoluted as they were, "those were the facts," and, as he says, it was anything but dry.
Equally complex was the career of J. T. Desaguliers, and equally fascinating is the paper by Brother R. William Weisberger, 32°, detailing that career. Desaguliers was a seminal figure in early Masonry, of course, and a man of great importance to the Masonic Fraternity. But he was also extremely important in the history of science and in the political history of the 1700s. This paper helps to explain Desaguliers's many-leveled life. It is not only a valuable resource, it's good reading as well.
"The Rite That Wasn't: The Cárdenista Masons of Mexico," by Paul Rich, 32°, Guillermo De Los Reyes, and Antonio Lara, is another tale of political intrigue which sounds as if it were originally published in something with a title like Ripping Yarns. The article's title is taken from Lázaro Cárdenas, President of Mexico during the 1930s. And, as the authors, quoting Prof. Alan Knight, point out, "No historian questions the importance of Cárdenismo, but many disagree as to its character." Articles in previous issues of Heredom have started to trace the important and complex role of Masonry in Mexican politics, and the influence of Cárdenas is a remarkable case in point. He is widely believed in Mexico to have created a Masonic Rite. The evidence is that he did not, but this article is a good telling of a fascinating story.
"The Order of Kilwinning or Scotch Heredom, the Present Royal Order of Scotland," by Alain Bernheim, 32°, is a jewel. I must admit I love the contradictions in Masonic history—the Antients Grand Lodge, which was of more recent origin than the Moderns Grand Lodge; the Scottish Rite, which appears to be French; English Masonry, which now appears to have come from Scotland; the York Rite, which is essentially from America, not from England—and now it appears that the Royal Order of Scotland may have started in England. There are few documents relating to the early history of the Royal Order of Scotland, but Brother Bernheim has gathered those together and woven a history which will keep you fascinated. For me, this is a "must read."
Following the Bernheim article, Dr. Morris was kind enough to include one of my own. It was an article originally written as a paper to be delivered to a meeting of the Blue Friars, so the writing style is a little more formal than what I generally use. The title is "St. John's Day Among the Creek: A Rediscovered Speech of Albert Pike." The article is really a reprinting of a speech Pike gave on June 24, 1857, at Muskogee Lodge No. 93, Creek Nation, Indian Territory. The address had been lost until a few years ago when a copy was discovered in the archives of the Guthrie, Oklahoma, Temple. The speech is worth reading, because Pike had just finished the revision of the Scottish Rite Degrees, and they were still much on his mind. He was a famous orator, well-known throughout the South, and copies of his orations had already appeared in books, but he was asked to give the speech with only a very few days for preparation, and he drew heavily from the Scottish Rite Degree material to prepare the oration. I've added some notes relating passages of the speech to the Degrees. The article is worth reading if only to enjoy Pike's sonorous prose.
Brother Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, is one of my favorite Masonic writers. He is also one of those annoying people who never forgets anything. Once he's read it, he has it forever. One can forgive him for that because he turns that talent to such good use in Masonry. This issue of Heredom provides a fine example, "The Posthumous Success of James H. C. Miller, Degree Peddler." Brother de Hoyos gives us more than a brilliant glimpse of James Miller (it would be charitable to call him a character) and an overview of the Degree peddlers of the 1800s. He also provides appendices with rituals, patents, attacks, and counterattacks. The article is too rich to describe here, but certainly worth your time. It is both fun and enlightening. (Brother de Hoyos also contributed the last item in this issue of Heredom, a fellowship song found in the Supreme Council's Archives and written by Brother Reuel Bella Clifford in 1834. I wish I knew the tune—it's the sort of thing I love, a from-the-heart expression of Masonry when Masons gathered for good food and good drink, and were less concerned with perfect memorization than with perfect fellowship.)
Finally, Heredom ends with another article by co-authors Paul Rich, 32°, and Antonio Lara, "The Mystery of Mathew Carey: Continuing Adventures in Masonic Bibliography." This is a story of research into one of the intriguing mysteries of Masonic history. We know that Philadelphia was the place of translation into Spanish and publication of several Masonic works (including a Monitor) which were essentially smuggled into Mexico and Central America in the early 1800s. The works were intended to spark freedom in the movement of resistance to Spanish domination. But why then and why Philadelphia? This article contains information about the publisher, Mathew Carey. It's a short article, but I promise you, you won't be able to put it down. Great stuff, like all of the articles in this volume of Heredom.
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Jim Tresner is Director of the Masonic Leadership Institute and Editor of The Oklahoma Mason. A frequent contributor to the Scottish Rite Journal and its book review editor, Illustrious Brother Tresner is also a volunteer writer for The Oklahoma Scottish Rite Mason and a video script consultant for the National Masonic Renewal Committee. He is the Director of the Thirty-third Degree Conferral Team and Director of Work at the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma, as well as a life member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, author of the popular anecdotal biography Albert Pike, The Man Beyond the Monument, and a member of the steering committee of the Masonic Information Center. Ill. Tresner was awarded the Grand Cross, the Scottish Rite's highest honor, during the Supreme Council's October 1997 Biennial Session. |