From the Venerable Master (September 2024)
My Brethren,
Our August stated Meeting, had a good attendance. The meal was good and everyone had a good time. I've had some inquires about our Cigar Lounge, and how it is progressing. The wood framing has been installed. The Electrical boxes and most of the Electrical wiring has been pulled into the boxes. Wiring will next be pulled and installed into the Electrical Panel. Progressing very nicely. More updates in next Month's Rite Word. In this Month's Rite Word.
I would like to quote an article about the Masonic Altar. It's an article from a book called Masonry Defined. The Altar. The most important article of furniture in a Lodge room is undoubtedly the Altar. It is worth while then, to investigate its character and its relation to the altars of other religious institutions. The definition if an altar is very simple. It is a structure elevated above the ground, and appropriated to some service connected with worship, such as the offering of obligations, sacrifices, or prayers.
Altars among the ancients, were generally made of turf or stone. When permanently erected and not on any sudden emergency, they were generally built in regular courses of masonry, and usually in a cubical form. Altars were erected long before temples. Thus, Noah is said to have erected one as soon as he came forth from the Ark. Heroditus gives the Egyptians the credit of being the first among the heathen nations who invented altars.
Among the ancients, both Jews and Gentiles, Altars were of two kinds----for incense and for sacrifice. The latter were always erected in the open air, outside and in front of the Temple. Altars of incense only were permitted within the Temple walls. Animals were slain, and offered on the altars of burnt offerings. On the altars of incense, bloodless sacrifices were presented and incense was burnt to the Deity.
The Masonic Altar, which, like everything else in Masonry, is symbolic, appears to combine the character and uses of both of these altars. It is an altar of sacrifice, for on it the candidate is directed to lay his passions and vices as an oblation to the Deity, while he offers up the thoughts of a pure heart as a fitting incense to the Grand Architect of the Universe. The altar is therefore, the most holy place in a lodge.
From all this we see that the altar in Masonry is not merely a convenient article of furniture, intended, like a table, to hold a Bible. It is a sacred utensil of religion, intended, like the altars of the ancient temples, for religious uses, and thus identifying Masonry, by its necessary existence in our Lodges, as a religious institution. Its presence should also lead the contemplative mason to view the ceremonies in which it is employed with solemn reverence, as being part of a really religious worship.
The form of a Masonic Altar should be, about three feet high, and of corresponding proportions as to length and width. The Holy Bible with the Square and Compass should be spread open upon it, while around it are to be placed three lights. These lights are to be in the East, West and South. There is no light North of the Altar, because in Masonry the North is the place of darkness.
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
(September 2024)
Symbols & Symbolism
As we close out the summer and look to the fall with all our annual events for our craft, I find myself in preparation for the tasks, ruminating on all the symbols in Masonry and by extension their ability to communicate concepts or at the very least in our modern times serve as reminders.
A symbol has the unique ability to not only say or represent a lot in a very condensed way, and depending on the symbol, its current use and the edification of the person reading it, a lot of misunderstanding. Much of this I think is a side effect of the speed of communication of modern society. In the past what would have taking days, months or even years for a concept or belief to reach the population, can now take place in seconds, for better or worse. Now days, anyone can say anything they want about anyone or anything and there will be thousands if not millions that read it in just minutes.
The Latin word for symbol derives from Ancient Greek verb meaning 'put together', 'compare'. This came from the ancient practice of breaking a piece of ceramic in two and giving one half to the person who would receive a future message, and one half to the person who would send it: when the two fit perfectly together, the receiver could be sure that the messenger bearing it did indeed also carry a genuine message from the intended person. Very much unlike todays seemingly preferred communication, a text.
Understanding of the world in which we live, thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way, people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them, but also to identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric. Symbols are everywhere and have been in use for thousands of years.
Any club or organization is made of a few basic things. One is people, which as members join, grow old, move or pass away. For a club to live on it must communicate its meanings, traditions and practices, often in the form of symbols. Also, many organizes have ritual, costumes and face it, bling. Masonry has no shortage of any of these things. As fun as they all are, they have served an important purpose. Symbols used for communication and teaching the lessons of the organization. This has been going on for thousands of years in many types of organizations like Masonry, popular & political movements, governments and organized religions.
While originally it was because no one could read, and symbols filled this void. Symbols now take on a shorthand role, to remind someone of what they have been taught, think about it, how many symbols did you see today or how man symbols a wearing now?
Paul Tillich, a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, Christian socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century argued that, while signs are invented and forgotten, symbols are born and die. There are, therefore, dead and living symbols. A living symbol can reveal to an individual hidden levels of meaning and transcendent or religious realities. For Tillich a symbol always "points beyond itself" to something that is unquantifiable and mysterious; symbols open up the "depth dimension of reality itself". Symbols are complex, and their meanings can evolve as the individual or culture evolves. Sometimes symbols as words are lost and substitutes come into creation to take their place until they can be recovered.
Another interesting thing to think about is our alphabet is just symbols. Each letter means a sound and tother they form words, or concepts. From there it is phrases, paragraphs, chapters an ultimate a story. I have long thought this is one reason why it is better to read than to watch or listen. Your brain must decipher the complicity the symbols and of how the message is communicated. Like cardio for your mind.
With all that, I hope you have a good fall as we move into the last seasons of 2024.
San Jose Chapter of Rose Croix Mark Burger, 32° KCCH 2024 Wise Master
From the Commander of Kadosh (September 2024)
The “Mystery” degrees continue with the 26th degree, Prince of Mercy. Previously known as the “Scottish Trinitarian” degree, it was rewritten to make it more universal. One significant development of the 1723 Constitutions was replacing the required belief in a “Trinitarian” God with a promise to follow “that religion upon which all men agree.” The modifications to this degree are in keeping with that ideal. Tolerance, an abiding theme throughout Freemasonry, is the primary lesson of this degree. The degree is a classic example of the syncretism that Albert Pike, and many others since the Renaissance, believed to be possible between all of the world’s religions. While the precise mapping between traditions that was then attempted, is probably not possible, there are a number of basic foundational truths that seem to be represented in all of the “world religions.”
The focus in this case is the recurrence of the number three in diverse symbolism and varied traditions. The model used, as might be expected of Pike and the time in which the degree was reworked, is the Christian Trinity of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. This is equated to a host of ancient traditions, including two of Pike’s favorites, India and Persia, which he believed to contain the oldest of all traditions. While some of the information given in the degree would benefit from modernization, the major point is still intact. The world we live in, all of existence really, can be seen according to the ancient concept of balance or resolution. Borrowing often from the examples of Kabbalah, the Scottish Rite uses this metaphor in numerous places, imparting various lessons of moderation and mildness of disposition, by the illustration of two opposing ideas being resolved by a third. This degree, in particular, takes its name, Prince of Mercy, from one of the most common of those examples.
The 26th degree perpetuates a subtle misunderstanding of the Kabbalistic source material which has, unfortunately, become pervasive in Masonry. The attribute of Mercy is mistakenly said to be opposed to the idea of Justice. This is a corruption of the Kabbalistic concept and misunderstands the concept of Justice. The truth, according to Kabbalah, is that unlimited Mercy opposes unmitigated Judgment. Justice, particularly the perfect Justice of God, is the result, found in the Beauty and balance that results from mediating your Judgment with Mercy, and limiting your Mercy with sound Judgment. This is the chief lesson of this degree, and all of Masonry. Judgment requires careful account of what happened and Mercy requires a proper consideration of why it happened. This balance produces the Harmony
that is the strength and support of our society.
Until Next,
San Jose Council of Kadosh Peter Cardilla, 32° 2024 Commander of Kadosh
From the Master of Kadosh (September 2024)
Although Masons believe that Geometry is the most important of all the Liberal Arts and Sciences, Music is right up there next to it. This month we discuss the close connection between Geometry and Music, as discovered by our friend Pythagoras.
As in previous articles, we present excerpts from the book “Sacred Geometry – Deciphering the Code”, by Stephen Skinner, pages 22 and 23 (from the paperback edition of this book):
<excerpt>
Music, vibration and whole numbers
We hear sound, and therefore music, by sensing vibrations in air. Pitch (how high or low a sound is) reflects the vibration’s ‘speed’ or frequency. Stringed instruments allow more than one note to be played at a time, and notes that are played simultaneously on an instrument can sound harmonious or discordant. Surprisingly, this is not dependent on your musical preferences but on objective, arithmetic order that underlies vibrating strings and all music.
Play a note by plucking a string on a guitar, then halve the length of the string by pressing it on the fingerboard with a finger and pluck it again. You hear a higher note – double the frequency of the first one. It is actually the same note but an octave above (‘octave’ refers to the eight notes of a major scale, see table). Stopping (or shortening) the string at other points along the fingerboard creates different notes, which are the other fractional lengths, or ratios, of the original note.
Harmonious ratios
What is remarkable is that only whole number ratios produce harmonious results – the ratio of the vibrational frequency of the musical octave is 2:1. If the ratios of the strings were altered to, say, 4.2 or 3.7 units in length, the result would be dissonant. This discovery confirmed Pythagoras’ belief that there is something special, even sacred, in whole numbers. In music these whole-number ratios form scales, the building blocks of music. Each ratio has a name, and the ones in bold in the table below form a major diatonic scale (the doh-re-mi scale familiar to most of us), here in the key of C major. The ratios remain constant for any key.
SCALE INTERVALS AND RATIOS
The character of scales
There are many scales with different musical characters. A minor scale, which uses the minor third rather than the major third, is often regarded as melancholic. The change (known as a cadence) from a major chord to its minor version is particularly haunting. The reverse, from minor to major, known as a Picardy third, is regarded as uplifting or hopeful.
Musicians use the character of different scales and cadences to demonstrate the profound emotional potential deriving from Pythagoras’ underlying arithmetic. For him, musical harmony was further confirmation that whole numbers and unitary fractions are sacred while inexact fractions are not. Pentatonic (five-note) scales – the major version has the same ratios as the black notes on the piano – occur in folk music worldwide and are familiar to all of us. They appear in English hymns as well as folk and popular music – ‘Amazing Grace’, for example, has a major pentatonic melody.
Adding a note between the fourth and fifth of a minor pentatonic scale – the famous ‘blue note’ in blues, jazz and rock music – also has a very powerful character. Non-European cultures have different musical scales – for example, the Chinese use pentatonic scales and Indians 22 notes, as in one Persian scale – but the principle of whole number ratios always
holds good.
San Jose Consistory Helmuth Litfin, 32° 2024 Venerable Master of Kadosh
From the Knights of Saint Andrew (September 2024)
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 |