Blog

Blog

State of the Masonic Fraternity: You’re Not Running Out of Time – You’re Out of It.

by Bill Hosler

Mark St. Cyr Over the last few years, I’ve been quite vocal on my displeasure with the inner workings of the Masonic Fraternity when it comes to its central theme: Making Good Men Better.   When I hear this, it’s always presented in a very matter-of-fact, clear statement from either a  Brother or an advertisement piece. Here’s what seems to be never asked in response:  “Great, how exactly do you do this at your Lodge?” The reason for this near certainty that it’s never asked is when I do precisely that— the awkward silence that follows is deafening.  Another curiosity revolving around this topic is when I overhear (or read) someone commenting on how much better the Fraternity is going about “advertising” itself. Again, when I ask,  “Great, what program are you speaking of?” They reflexively state the “Not a Man, a Mason”  campaign. If I then follow up with a clarifying statement such as “You are aware that was not a  Grand Lodge (GL) endeavor, but actually a Scottish Rite one?” I get looks like I just insulted someone’s mother. I can list far more examples, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll just leave it there. I believe you

Continue reading…State of the Masonic Fraternity: You’re Not Running Out of Time – You’re Out of It.

Lodge Food Fundraisers and Other Time Wasters

by Bill Hosler

Robert Johnson I visit about sixty Facebook groups each week to push out links to the WCY Podcast (Whence Came You?) Yes, it’s a shameless promotion. However, the goal is to get Masonic Education into the hands of those interested, and all too often, lodges don’t provide their members with anything—so this is my “Hail Mary” pass into the dark. Throw it out there, and those who want it can ingest it. Speaking of ingesting, every week, I open all these groups in tabs on my computer’s browser, and I have to say, it feels as though ninety percent of the Facebook Groups for Scottish Rite Valleys, Jurisdictional Grand Lodge Groups, and local Lodge Groups have not posted anything between the time I posted the previous week and the post I am about to put up. My first question was, “Why is no one actively discussing anything or posting in these groups? Are they dead?” “Where’s the Masonic content?” My second question occurs in the event something is posted in the interim. It’s always the same: spaghetti dinners, fish fries, pork chop dinners… all you can eat for a nominal cost. I asked myself, and later on, on social media,

Continue reading…Lodge Food Fundraisers and Other Time Wasters

What If The Scarecrow Was Wrong?

by Bill Hosler

Bro. Mark St. Cyr In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, anyone who’s watched it knows one of the three companions venturing to OZ with Dorothy is a character named the Scarecrow. And since now coming to life,  what he desperately wants to gain by this adventure is a brain,  for all he has is a head full of straw. However, I’m going to pose a question you will think is simply ludicrous. Yet, here it is: What if he was wrong the whole time and didn’t need one? Right now you’re saying to yourself, “Is this guy really going to suggest that someone doesn’t need a brain? That’s absurd!”  Here’s my reply: Absurd as that premise might be, it might actually be far more possible than some talking scarecrow. So let’s venture down this possible Primrose Path and think for ourselves, shall we? Let’s begin with what some might think of as frivolous examples.  However, we need to start somewhere and build, so let’s start at what first appears easily dismissible at first glance. e.g., The television series, Ancient Aliens. One of the featured researchers over the years has been Caroline Cory. She is primarily focused on the special abilities

Continue reading…What If The Scarecrow Was Wrong?

Dear Santa:All I want for Christmas is for the ruffians to escape this one time

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners    Editor’s Note: This is Satire.  Please read this with that in mind.  I’m just having some fun and trying to spread some Holiday cheer by making you laugh (hopefully).    Dear Santa: Every third degree, I’m forced to tell these three fellow craft that I have seen three workmen from the temple and men of Tyre attempting to book passage to Ethiopia, but they didn’t have King Solomon’s pass and turned back into the country.  I then get to see them captured by the same fellow craft and witness King Solomon order them to be executed according to the several imprecations they gave while in the clefts of the rocks.   I feel really bad about this.  I know these men, many of them are past Masters. As much as they have tortured me by shouting out the ritual anytime I pause to take a breath while delivering it, I don’t want them to die in that way.  It’s honestly too good of a fate for them.  I’d rather more torture be involved to make up for the chaos they cause in every degree. Santa, if bellyaching was an Olympic sport, they’d all get Gold

Continue reading…Dear Santa:All I want for Christmas is for the ruffians to escape this one time

Fear and Loathing on Thanksgiving

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners   WB Darin trying to whisper good counsel to a  brother – ‘Stop being a dick!’   Here we are yet again…another Thanksgiving.  Another day of food and football, and in many cases depending on the level of dysfunction of your family… too much alcohol and a family fight (or more than one).  I’m about to pick a family fight without the alcohol…without the food…without the football.  The fight I am going to pick is based on our behavior. Mostly on social media, but this can also apply in real life. It’s probably a good time to discuss this given the real possibility of fear and loathing on this Thanksgiving day.    No, in fact, what I saw on many brothers social media posts up to and after the election. To be clear…this goes for both supporters of the red and blue…or anyone in between…can we stop: with memes and comments that go against our core values… pretty much those demeaning against certain individuals who are of a different gender, race, religion or sexual preference? Basically, can our membership stop acting like internet troglodytes who look like Walter Sobchak cosplayers?   To paraphrase the late great Dwight

Continue reading…Fear and Loathing on Thanksgiving

The Lodge on the Hill

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners     Editor’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.   Reginald carefully walked up the steps of the dilapidated Masonic Lodge on the hill in the middle of town. His grandfather had raised him after his parents had been killed in a car accident when he was a child. Although his grandfather was a Mason, he remembered that the only other time he had been in the building was for his grandfather’s installation ceremony. That must have been close to forty years ago, he reminisced. He returned to his hometown after the passing of his grandfather, Lucian. He had died a few months ago, ironically enough in a car accident. Reginald had returned to his hometown to settle his affairs.  As he reached the top of the stairs, he was greeted by his grandfather’s best friend, Abraham. “Reginald, it overjoys my heart to have you join our ancient craft. Your grandfather would

Continue reading…The Lodge on the Hill

You Gotta Buy The Ticket, Man!

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners   On August 23rd, I celebrated the Fourth Anniversary of my first date with my wife, Lisa Goodpaster-Lahners.  Little did I know, I would join another secret society when I started my relationship with her.  While the exact qualifications for labeling a group a secret society are disputed, definitions generally rely on the degree to which the organization insists on secrecy, might involve the retention and transmission of secret knowledge, the potential for denial of membership to those who seek it, denial of knowledge of the group, the creation of personal bonds between members of the organization, and the use of secret rites or rituals which solidify members of the group, a belief in charity towards members of their organization and others, and membership which treats each other as equals even though their membership is made up of men and women of every religious, economic, ethnic background. When I met her, I was already a Freemason and Odd Fellow.  However, I would become a member of a small elite group of amazing individuals, all of whom are fans of the band: “Pearl Jam”.  Collectively, Pearl Jam fans are known as: “10-Clubbers”, “Jamily”, or “Jammers”.  It depends on who you talk to. 

Continue reading…You Gotta Buy The Ticket, Man!

Learning Lessons from the viral sensation that is Bama Rush

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners   Every year for the past few years, in August, my wife Lisa has had her FYP (For You Page) in TikTok flooded with all of the young women participating in the rush at the University of Alabama. This past Rush was what followers were calling “Bama Rush Season Four”.  Every Year Potential New Members or PNM’s flood TikTok to document their Rush experiences.  A very important part of this is what they call their: OOTD or Outfit of the Day.  These young women showcase outfits and accessories that they are wearing for their Rush experiences. Their rush experiences lead up to Bid Day (the day when women find out if they are selected to join a Sorority). The schedule for Rush week at UA is: Convocation and Open House on the first day (this year it was August 10), Followed by Philanthropy and Sisterhood Days, leading up to Preference Day and Bid Day.  After each day, PNM’s rank their houses, culminating with a final ranking on Preference day.     Convocation is when members of the Alabama Panhellenic Executive Council give a description of the day-to-day schedule, PNM’s are assigned to a Sigma Rho Chi group and

Continue reading…Learning Lessons from the viral sensation that is Bama Rush

WB Bill Hosler – A tribute to our fallen friend and contributor & his very last unfinished installment of the 50 year member series

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners     Nothing can ever prepare you for the loss of a friend and colleague, especially when their death is so sudden.  There’s not much more that I can add to all of the loving tributes to Bill Hosler. Bill impacted so many people and touched so many lives. He touched mine in so many profound ways. To say that I will miss him is an understatement. The hole that losing Bill has left in many of our lives will never be filled. We just have to find a way to cope.     I consider myself blessed to have worked in the Masonic Quarries with Bill, and honored to be able to call him my friend.  I first started speaking with Bill shortly after I started writing for this blog in 2017.  At first, we may have been a mutual admiration society.  Later, when I started to be an editor of the blog, I would edit Bill’s writings and give him feedback on some of his articles and we became collaborators.  When Greg Knott and I decided to start a podcast, after some of our early test recordings, we decided we needed another voice, and I

Continue reading…WB Bill Hosler – A tribute to our fallen friend and contributor & his very last unfinished installment of the 50 year member series

A Freemason at D-Day: Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

by Bill Hosler

WB Darin A. Lahners           One of my favorite things to do while on vacation is to visit museums and/or graveyards. On a recent trip to New Orleans, I visited the National WWII Museum.  Because tomorrow (June 6), celebrates the 80th anniversary of D-Day or Operation Overlord (which was the Allies’ airborne and amphibious operation to invade German-Occupied France), I felt the timing was perfect for this article.     There were four freedoms were outlined by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his State of The Union speech on January 6, 1941.  One has to remember that before the Japanese “surprise” attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, there was a very strong isolationist movement that desired to keep the United States from entering the war.  Roosevelt took a stance against this movement and stated that the United States had a responsibility to fight for four universal principles of freedom that all of the world’s citizens should be able to enjoy.   FDR stated in this speech that:    “No realistic American can expect from a dictator’s peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion

Continue reading…A Freemason at D-Day: Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Scroll Up