From the Venerable Master (June 2024)
My Brethren,
I will start by saying Hi, and hope that I find everyone in good health. Our May Stated Meeting was well attended and our meal
was excellent as always.
On April the 26th through April the 28th we had a State wide Reunion for all theScottish Rite Degrees. This was the FirstState Reunion to be held in many years. On Friday the 26th, our Scottish Rite Valley had the honor and privilege of conferring the 4th through the 14th Degree. It was an exceptional Job done by our Valley. The remaining degrees were done at the Oakland Scottish Rite. Our own Illustrious Ken Nagel 33Deg. was the spearhead in getting the different lodges in our jurisdiction to put on the different degrees. The different degree Directors did an excellent job of seeing that the Degrees were performed well. My congratulations to all that participated in the various degrees. We had over 80 candidates State Wide.
At our May Stated Meeting we had a capping ceremony for some of our brethren, who completed all of the 32 degrees. Congratulations to all of our Brothers. As of this writing our Stage and Floor Area are being refinished. They are being sanded and coats of Varnish are being applied. They finished
the process on May 10th. It looks Great. Well done.
I again remind you of our Special Event to be held on June 29th. Our Dinner and Music Event to raise funds for our Rite Care Clinic. Dinner 6:30 PM with Music of the 50's and 60's at 7:30 PM. It will be a Great Night. Please call the Scottish Rite Office and make your Reservations. The meal and show are
to be prepaid. Our clinic needs our support in this Month's Rite Word, I would like to quote an article on Dedication of a Lodge. It's taken from a book called Masonry Defined.
A Dedication to the two Saints John is thus explained:
Q. Our lodges being finished, furnished, and decorated with ornaments, furniture, and Jewels, to whom were they consecrated.
Ans. To God.
Q. To whom were they first dedicated?
Ans. To Noah, who was saved in the Ark.
Q. By what name were the Masons then know?
Ans. They were called Noachidae, sages, or Wise Men.
Q. To whom were the lodges dedicated during the Mosaic dispensation.
Ans. To Moses, the chosen of God, and Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, who was an eminent patron of the craft.
Q. But as Solomon was a Jew, and died long before the promulgation of christianity, to whom were they dedicated under the christian dispensation?
Ans. From Solomon the patronage of Masonry passed to St. John the Baptist.
Q. Under what name were they known after the promulgation of Christianity?
Ans. Under the name of Essenes, Architects, or Freemasons.
Q. Why were the Lodges dedicated to St. John the Baptist?.
Ans. Because he was the forerunner of our Savior, and by preaching repentance and humiliation, drew the first parallel of the Gospel.
Q. Had St. John the Baptist any Equal?
Ans. He had; St. John the Evangelist.
Q. Why is he said to be equal to the Baptist?
Ans. Because he finished by his learning what the other began by his zeal, and thus drew a second line parallel to the former; ever since which time Freemason's lodges, in all Christian countries, have been dedicated to the one or the other, or both, of these worthy and worshipful men.
May you always have Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends who care. May
you be blessed.
San Jose Lodge of Perfection Art Pasquinelli, 32° KCCH 2024 Venerable Master
From the Wise Master
(June 2024)
Looking back over May it was wonderful to attend and have the privilege of contributing to a very successful Reunion. The degrees were great, and it was fantastic to see many of them that are normally only communicated. A fine example of the rich fabric of the lessons of Masonry and especially the Scottish Rite. I also got to know a few of the candidates, and we have some fine men that are joining our ranks who will no doubt contribute to our Craft in the years to come.
Our time together in Masonry is, especially as exemplified by our Scottish Rite degrees, the perfect opportunity to examine our lives, our place in our families, communities, society as a whole and of course, our relationship with the Great Architect. These times give us the opportunity to know ourselves better
and how to communicate and contribute to the greater good.
Communication is an interesting thing for me. It is often, for me, a time to learn to listen first and then, if appropriate, respond back. I have found that some of the best men and Masons are the ones that say the least, just as the wisest man is usually the one that considers and perhaps asks about what he might not be familiar with as opposed to the one that quickly tries to convince others of what he may know.
Much of this is also about context. When and where to lend one’s opinion. Often it is better to listen to what you might learn, than to talk about what you might not really know. This good to have an opinion, giving your thoughts, experiences and conversations with others some consideration. In my mind, this is a fluid process, constant evolving and changing. This is one of the key aspects of our Great Society, to be able to listen to the opinion and beliefs of others.
On another note, the question for me is often, not only what I think about things, but what to do about it. In thinking about this one day, I came across a quote by Roy T. Bennett, in his book
The Light in the Heart
“Don't just learn, experience. Don't just read, absorb. Don't just change, transform. Don't just relate, advocate. Don't just prom- ise, prove. Don't just criticize, encourage. Don't just think, pon- der.
Don't just take, give. Don't just see, feel. Don’t just dream, do. Don't just hear, listen. Don't just talk, act. Don't just tell, show.
Don't just exist, live.”
Thank you for listening.
San Jose Chapter of Rose Croix Mark Burger, 32° KCCH 2024 Wise Master
From the Commander of Kadosh (June 2024)
Each month I’ve looked at one of the Council degrees. Up to now, each of them has been an updated and revised version of a degree from an early rite of the Royal Secret. This ends, however, with the 23rd degree and a subset of the Council degrees, referred to as the Mystery Degrees, begins. The Chief of the Tabernacle is the first of the four Mystery degrees, and the only one styled as a Lower Mystery degree. The lessons of the degree include faith, humility, and service, and stress the oneness of God.
Though very little is retained from the Royal Secret’s version of the 23rd degree, called the Key of Masonry, some remnants are still detectable. The Key of Masonry was a long degree that seemed to recap the lessons of all the previous degrees. It was heavily steeped in alchemical and astrological symbolism, giving special attention to certain numerical symbols, especially seven and twelve, numbers which are also featured in the modern degree. Additionally, references to the four-faced cherubs of the Book of Ezekiel appear in both degrees.
This, for the most part, is where the similarities stop. The departure from the old degree is understandable. For one thing, the Key of Masonry is exceptionally long, clearly designed to be a recap of a long journey through the twenty previous degrees. Along with this, the Key is a very strange combination of symbols, featuring a master styled as the biblical Adam, a character called Brother Truth, and a collection of so-called ‘sylphs’, the imaginary air spirit first described by the alchemist and physician Paracelsus.
The Chief of the Tabernacle degree symbolically refers to the tabernacle of Moses, which was erected in the wilderness as a place for God to dwell among the people as they wandered in search of a homeland. This tent of meeting was also the prototype for the later Temple of Solomon, which was to be a more permanent home for the Lord. King Solomon’s Temple, as we know, is, itself, the model for every masonic lodge. That is, every lodge of masonry is a place where the Great Architect of the Universe is present and dwelling among the people. The light we find in masonry and the quality of the brotherhood, are the evidence of his holy presence.
But the lodge is also a symbol. It’s a symbol, we are told, of the en- tire universe and all of Creation. Therefore we, as Masons, are charged, not only to acknowledge and see God’s presence in the world, but to portray it, as vehicles of that masonic light, that through us and the influence of brotherly love, the whole world might be aware of the Lord who dwells among us.
Until Next,
San Jose Council of Kadosh Peter Cardilla, 32° 2024 Commander of Kadosh
From the Master of Kadosh (June 2024)
The Consistory trip this year to the Hiller Aviation Museum has been scheduled for Sunday July 21st, the day after the 55th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing back in 1969. We expect to arrive (carpool if you can) at about 11:00 AM, and stay until the Museum closes at 5:00 PM.
Reservations have already been made for at least 12 persons (the minimum for group discounts), which gives us a $2 discount per person off the regular admission price for adults, children, or seniors.
The Museum regular prices are normally $21 for Adults, $14 for Seniors (Age 65+) and $14 for Youths (5-17), but WITH the (minimum 12 person) discounts the prices are $19 for Adults, and $12 for Seniors and Youths. Children 4 and under are FREE with a paid Adult, and Active Military are also FREE. Assuming that we have at least 12 attendees, we will get the discount prices.
Look for a flyer with additional trip details at the July Stated Dinner.
Continuing the discussion of Φ (phi, or the Golden Mean) within our series on Geometry, we present the following excerpt from “Sacred Geometry – Deciphering the Code”, by Stephen Skinner (© 2006 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, paperback by Sterling Pub- lishing Co., Inc., ISBN 978-1-4027-6582-7). As noted previously, my own comments are enclosed in italicized braces [ ... ] .
From Chapter 1 of Sacred Geometry, page 36 (and following):
<excerpt>
..., the Ancients always preferred numbers that could be expressed as whole numbers or fractions (such as 2/3, 1/2, 1/4, 1/9) and preferably unary fractions, which are fractions with 1 as the numerator (such as 1/3, 1/6, 1/60).
So here is phi expressed as a fraction:
Φ= (Ö5 + 1) / 2
We can reduce the equation to a simpler form by dividing through by 2:
Φ= 0.5 + (Ö5 x 0.5)
Φ is now expressed entirely in terms of 5, so it should not come as a surprise that ‘fiveness’ is a quality of Φ and that Φoccurs in the proportions of the pentagon (a five-sided figure) and of the penta- gram (a five-pointed figure).
Incommensurate numbers
However, in its decimal form phi never ends. Numbers that are never-ending, and cannot be exactly expressed, are called incommensurate where they cannot be constructed with basic Euclide- an geometry using a compass and a straightedge.
They have intrigued man since antiquity. One rather florid story relates that when Hippasus of Metapontum (c.500 BC) dis- covered that the Golden Mean can never be expressed as a fraction or a ratio between two whole numbers, his fellow Pythagoreans were so shocked they were said to have sacrificed 100 oxen. I think this is probably an exaggeration, given that the Pythagoreans were vegetarians, but it shows the degree of their veneration for whole numbers and their rational relationships as expressed as rational fractions.
Iamblichus of Chalcis (AD 245-325) stated that the Pythagoreans built a tomb for whoever discovered incommensurability, signifying that he must forever depart from the life and fellowship of Pythagorean society.
The Golden Triangle
The Golden or Sublime Triangle is an isosceles triangle with both base angles of 72 degrees and the third angle of 36 degrees. When the base angles are bisected (cut in half) the two new tri- angles produced are also Golden Triangles [refer to page 37 of the paperback version of Sacred Geometry for illustrations of this and the pentagram & pentagon discussion to follow] . This process can be repeated over and over, each time creating new Golden Tri- angles in the same way you can continue producing Golden Rec- tangles [to be discussed briefly next month] .
The Golden Triangle also produces the Golden Mean of 1.618, because the ratio between the longer side and the short side of the triangle is phi [as the illustration on page 37 shows] . This triangle can also be used to produce a type of logarithmic spiral [discussed later in the book] .
The Golden Pentagram
The Pentagram, or five-pointed star, has long been considered magical. In the West it is often used specifically as a protection against evil, with the single point upwards. When the double point is upwards the pentagram is construed as an evil sign [ N.B., this does NOT apply to our Masonic Orders!]. The most famous magical fraternity of the last few centuries, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, used it to devise a Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram to help disperse undesirable entities. It is therefore not surprising that this figure also has some special geometry.
If you look closely at the pentagram, you will see that it is made up of five triangles attached to an upside-down regular pentagon.
If the sides of the five triangular points are one unit in length, then the base of these triangles (or the side of the pentagon) is 0.618. Interestingly, 1/0.618 is Φ . Or, to put it yet another way, if you divide the sides of the triangle by the base of the tri- angle you get Φ . In short the regular pentagram is made up of five Golden Triangles, touching each other around a pentagon.
</excerpt>
I have been informed that some of my articles (due to quot- ing from Stephen Skinner’s book) have been somewhat long, so I have not included the diagrams from the book this month in the interest of brevity.
We will finish our discussion of Φ next month by introduc- ing the Fibonacci Series
San Jose Consistory Helmuth Litfin, 32° 2024 Venerable Master of Kadosh
From the Chief Knight (June 2024)
We are planning a big arch of steel this month, for the San Jose Rainbow Girls’ next installation of Officers. To the current and prospective members, and Red and White hat alumni as well, please join us and mark your calendars to support one of our youth orders. Let’s make this evening great for these young ladies and their families.
Sat, June 2
22:00pm
San Jose Scottish Rite Center
Our KSA chapter wants to continue celebrating and sharing thanks to everyone involved with the Spring Reunion last month. I want to thank all those Sir Knights, who showed up all three days and put in the work behind the scenes; you helped make this Reunion run smoother. I was particularly happy and proud to see a half dozen of our own KSA compliment up in Oakland. Continued thanks and gratitude also goes out to all the brothers and Sir Knights from other valleys; it is always a pleasure working with you!
For anyone interested in getting more involved in your Valley, the KSA is a great way to do it. The State-wide Reunion many of you just experienced, is a great example of where the KSA can shine. There are many things that bring such a big undertaking together, beyond the organizers and directors. Whether it’s helping out with wardrobe, the microphone station, sound, lighting, or staging, one can usually find a KSA hat floating around at these stations. One KSA member from another valley sets up a makeup station to apply beards and mustaches. And, it’s not just a great time to help your Scottish Rite brothers, we also have a great time doing it.
To learn more about the KSA, join us on the 3rd Sunday of each month, at noon, down in the San Jose Scottish Rite conference room. Kilt not required.
San Jose Knights of St. Andrew
Michael Lammer, 32°
2024 Chief Knight, KSA
The Knights of Saint Andrew 2024 Officers
First Knight | Bro. Chris Boyes 32º |
Chief Knight | Bro. Mike Lammer 32º |
Knight of the Watch | Bro. Alan Porjesz 32º |
Secretary | Bro. Tim Lynch 32º |
Monk Knight | Bro. Adrian Otero 32º |
Sentinel | Bro. Angelo Encarnacion 32º |