The Blessing of Material Light
The Cornerstone Society Conference at Sindlesham

The Cornerstone Society Southern Conference this year was ably hosted by the Province of Berkshire, at the Masonic Centre at Sindlesham. The Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire, Michael Hooton, said that the agenda was a stimulating one, and looked forward to hearing the feedback from delegates.
     The three speakers were united in many things, but one aspect stood out above the rest: Freemasons, discovering their identity and the location of their personal secret, discover also their place in the universe and their obligations towards society.
     Starting the discussion Julian Rees, Deputy Editor of Freemasonry Today, explored the essence of things, and concluded that we may be short-changing ourselves by using shorthand definitions of Freemasonry. In The Way to the Centre he proposed that on order to properly understand the power of masonic teaching, there is nothing more important than the quest for the Centre, that journey we all undertake in having the three degrees conferred on us.
     Mary Jo Kokochak, Past Grand Commander of the American Federation of Co-Masons Le Droit Humain, in her talk Fraternally United in the Love of Humanity, picked up the theme of progression through the degrees, by suggesting that there were various levels of meaning for brotherhood, and that the rituals of each progressively deepen our understanding. In a world where we are often separated by superficial characteristics, the qualities of love and compassion were increasingly needed.
     ‘The masonic system,’ she said, ‘offers a method of freeing ourselves from a limited consciousness in order to experience unity.’ Rees proposed that being at the Centre was indispensable in experiencing the masonic message, but Mary Jo Kokochak took this further claiming that we can find the fundamental unity of all human beings through that, in recognising brotherhood as a law in nature, not simply an aspiration or an ideal. The freedom required of Freemasons then was in order to freely submit ourselves to change to a new life, being free because the process requires a new vision. ‘Are we really mechanical beings?’ she asked ‘a brain without a heart or a higher faculty?’ Charity required that, ultimately, we had to give ourselves, not money or valuables. Through brotherly love we achieve a cohesive and harmonious whole.
     Being at the Centre then was an experience beyond self-centredness – it was rather a state of self-awareness, a place where we first seek to be aware of, and thus to know, our own nature, virtues and vices, after which we can then be secure enough in ourselves to relate to those around us. In a similar vein, Mary Jo Kokochak claimed that the lodge is a workshop to overcome narrow-mindedness and intolerance. ‘But it also has the potential to become a spiritual body. If the members share a strong bond and work with conscious intention, there is the possibility for it to become a means to uplift humankind.’
     Physical light, and through that figurative, was another important feature of the three talks. We are disabled by being deprived of material light, Rees reminded us. ‘But deprived of spiritual light, we can be yet more disabled than that.’ We seek inner light when we come to be initiated – that is the essential import of the blindfold.
     Kirk MacNulty, in The Secret Identity of Masons, chose to see Freemasonry as the codification of the philosophical essence of the Renaissance, and then related it to the rebirth of classicism. Whatever the origins of Freemasonry might have been, its resonance with the blazing torch of the Renaissance was too great to be ignored. In the Renaissance, men learned to regard heaven not as some far-off reward after death, but a possibility to experience the Divinity here and now.
     Quoting the Emulation lectures, he drew attention to the fact that the phrase ‘travel east in search of instruction’, in the terms of the tracing board, meant an ascent to heaven, the top of the board facing east.
     Just as Rees had demonstrated that the hexalpha, being formed of two interlaced triangles, indicated man’s inextricable nature with that of God, and was therefore a representation of the ‘as above, so below’ principle expounded in the Corpus Hermeticum, so MacNulty stressed also this important product of Renaissance philosophy, where instruction in the Classics was communicated as adventures in the form of myths. Here, said MacNulty, the influence of hermetic thought and Kabbalah provided the driving force from which Freemasonry would later draw its inspiration. ‘God,’ he said, ‘is beyond existence’ and in quoting again from the Corpus Hermeticum he reminded us that ‘God contains all things, and there is nothing that is not God.’ Our existence, as a microcosm of the Universe, was a mirror image of the macrocosm, namely the Deity. And so, in masonic initiation, the aspirant leaves the things of this world, and on the winding staircase he later learns that he is on a journey in consciousness.
     So the journey to which MacNulty referred, upwards through each of the three degrees, leads inexorably to that point in the third degree where the Self dies, to be re-born at a higher level of consciousness, that place where we become one with God, or in Rees’ words, the place at the Centre. This is the place where, according to Mary Jo Kokochak, we have taken up the offer of passing beyond an intellectual understanding of the symbols of Freemasonry, and rise to a level of oneness with the Spirit of Masonry.
     For a Freemason to ‘propagate the knowledge he has gained’, said MacNulty, he must, in the words of the ritual, travel east in search of knowledge, and west to propagate that knowledge. In Rees’ words this means finding his Centre in order then to relate to the world around him: for Kokochak the unity at the centre mirrored the unity of humankind.
     The traditional question and answer session proved more animated than usual, with delegates keen to develop the themes brought out by the speakers, and keen to take the ideas they had uncovered back to their lodges. Many delegates said that they had had moments of revelation during the Conference which would stay with them.
     The official proceedings were rounded off by the ritual workshop, in which a section of the first degree ritual was worked, accompanied by a narration, sections of poetry, and suitable music. The candidate, we were told, had been blindfolded, not to prevent him seeing out, but to assist him in seeing inwardly. The twin dangers to which he had been exposed would remind him to persist on a firm but steady course. The prayer reminded the delegates of the place of divinity at the centre of man, and the subsequent ceremony concentrated on the candidate’s freedom, poverty, and humility.

Blueprint Lodge for 21st Century

A Lodge which promises to bring a new, open style to relationships between Freemasonry and the outside world had the blessing of the Provincial Grand Master for Hertfordshire, Colin Harris, at its consecration recently.
     The Lodge of the Legion, No. 9827, will initially move out into the community with plans to co-ordinate the involvement of Freemasonry in the Remembrance Day ceremonies across the Province, but it already has other plans, building on the wide range of activities, masonic and otherwise, which already set the Halsey Hall in Cheshunt apart from other masonic centres.
     The Provincial Grand Master said at the celebratory festive board, ‘This Lodge has a stunning future, moving out into the community as it will. It is a blueprint for masonry in the 21st. Century.’
     The first Master of the Lodge, Les Bryant, said he had spotted the only other ‘Legion Lodge’, No. 8634, in the Province of Northumberland, and over the last few years had forged close relationships as the idea of a Hertfordshire Lodge took root. He thanked that Lodge’s two representatives at the consecration for all their support and guidance.
     The Lodge of the Legion has 44 founder members, with many keen to become joining members. There are five candidates in the wings.

Clerkenwell Lodge of Installed Masters celebrate with music

Clerkenwell Lodge of Installed Masters celebrated their 10th. anniversary with a musical evening in London recently. After considering many worthy causes, the Lodge decided to donate musical instruments to the value of £5,000 to the Music Centre at Islington Arts and Media School, which is located in the vicinity of the London Masonic Centre where the Lodge meets. After pupils of the school, aged from 10 to 16 years, played various pieces of music, the Master presented Mr. Lindsay Ellis, Principal of the school, with the instruments. Mr Ellis, who was accompanied by Mr Len Cunningham of Islington Council Education Authority, thanked the Lodge for their most generous and much-needed gifts. The Lodge also presented to the guest of honour, Russell Race, Deputy Metropolitan Grand Master, a cheque for £2,000 as a donation to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution London Appeal. Many of the Consecrating Officers and Honorary Members were in attendance.

Freemasons' ties with Hereford Cathedral

Michael Tavinor, Dean of Hereford Cathedral, gave an address to Cantilupe Lodge, No. 4083 recently on St. Thomas Cantilupe, to whom there is a medieval shrine in the Cathedral.
     There have always been close ties between the Cathedral and the Lodge, and now Hereford Freemasons are assisting in the enhancement of the Cantilupe shrine by providing large hangings either side, made in rich appliqué, telling the story of the saint. One of them will depict him as a great academic, educated at the universities of Oxford and Paris. Another shows him as Chancellor of Oxford, to which position he was appointed twice, and in another he is receiving the great seal of the University from Edward I. He was eventually made Bishop of Hereford.
     Many members of the Lodge have connections with the Cathedral: some are former choristers, former teachers at the Cathedral School, and the Assistant Organist is also a member of the Lodge.

Success of Universities Scheme

The Universities Scheme has been set up by the Assistant Grand Master to recruit young men into Freemasonry. One of the lodges to join the scheme was the Old Mancunians’ Lodge, No. 3140, in Manchester. The Lodge was originally founded as a ‘closed’ lodge for members of the Manchester Grammmar School.
     Having celebrated its centenary in 2006, the Lodge decided to open its doors to a wider membership and as part of this change in focus has signed up to the Universities Scheme. The Lodge has therefore welcomed into its ranks an intake of undergraduates and young professionals who live and work around the Manchester area.
     Whilst the Lodge retains an attachment to the school, the make-up of its membership is gradually evolving.
     Six Brethren have been initiated in the last ten months and several more are already awaiting their initiation. As a result of this level of interest, the Lodge has sometimes found it necessary to conduct multiple ceremonies. They have also found it very helpful to entertain prospective candidates to dinner before they join the Lodge and believe that this has helped them recruit young men by demonstrating the fellowship enjoyed by the members.