Esotericon 2020

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Robert H. Johnson

It’s been almost a week since Esotericon 2020 “signed off”, and many of us are still digesting the information gleaned in the presentations. What is Esotericon? I’m glad you asked. Esotericon is an annual conference, not unlike other Masonic conventions, e.g. MasonicCon in Attleboro or Texas Masonic Con. It has one glaring differentiator—all presentations are Esoteric. 

If you want to know more about the premise and its first year, I can’t explain it better than Kevin Homan did last year when he produced this LINKED ARTICLE. You could imagine that this was a niche crowd with only a few attendees. You’d be wrong. How about 300 attendees? How about $3,500 donated to the Rainbow Girls charity fund for Give Kids the World Village. 

Speakers at this year’s event included; Chuck Dunning, Angel Millar, Josef Wäges, and some return appearances by Dave Bacon, Don McAndrews, and myself. A special presentation on the Esoteric Symbology of the Rainbow was also given, and if I’m honest—was the show-stealer. There were two wonderful special guest appearances by MW PGM Akram Elias who talked about the Masonic Legacy Society. And MW Sean Bradshaw had some opening remarks. Having the conference opened by two MW Brothers felt wonderful—a validation for me at least, that labors in this area mean something. 

Did I have a favorite part of the conference? I did. I mentioned above the special presentation on Rainbow, which I thought was fantastic, and I also really enjoyed Bro. Chuck Dunning’s presentation, "You are the Mysteries". 

Up to this point, you’re wondering how they accomplished a conference in this global pandemic, and the answer is that they did it via Zoom webinar. It was the best Zoom meeting I’d ever been on. There were no instances of, “You’re muted!” Or other typical online meeting pitfalls. All the good and none of the bad. 

Of course, the big surprise is that Esotericon has already picked a date for next year. 

If you want to learn more, here is the latest episode of The Masonic Roundtable in which we spoke to the Brothers who planned Esotericon. I hope you enjoy it and I hope to see you next year at the conference!

~RHJ

RWB Johnson is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 2nd N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Spes Novum Lodge No. 1183. He is a Past Master of Waukegan Lodge 78 and a Past District Deputy Grand Master for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry. He is the co-author of "It's Business Time - Adapting a Corporate Path for Freemasonry" and is currently working on a book of Masonic essays and one on Occult Anatomy to be released soon.

Hermes Said What? Oh My Goodness!

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

WB. Sam L. Land

Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice Great) gave a very interesting statement on God and Creation: 

Atum creates the Cosmic Mind

The Cosmic Mind creates the Cosmos,

The Cosmos creates Time,

Time creates change.

Change creates Life.

Hermes believed that God (Atum) was the original source of everything; His essence filled everything; and that He controlled everything in perfection. His thought of Creation was the force that caused the Cosmic Mind (Consciousness) to exist and it was complete and perfect. The Cosmic Consciousness is the source of all knowledge and the force which makes physical Creation happen. This is done by the creation of the Cosmos.

The Cosmos is the entity that is composed of the stars and planets which turn and move in their respective perfect orbits and who always return to their starting point only to begin again in endless perfect repetition. The Cosmos is the place where all matter is created into its individual forms. The Cosmos is the creator of time.

Time is created by the perfect and continual revolutions of the bodies in the Cosmos. Since they all have a beginning and ending point of each revolution, the concept of before, now, and tomorrow are created. Because if their spin while in orbit we are provided with the concept of day and night. Those planets that have both a sun and moon provided their planet with the concepts of solar days and lunar days. This action also creates change.

Change is created because of the ability to measure things in time. We can count our years of existence because we use the anniversary of our birth. This separation of things into past, present, and future gives us the sense of time and movement through time. This change is the parent of life as we know it.

Life is made possible because the ability to change over time allows us to learn, grow, and increase. Each generation of creation is more advanced (physically, mentally, or spiritually) than the last one and more capable of knowing and understanding the principles of Nature and Creation.

Hermes goes on to say that it is the job of mankind to nurture and respect the creation process and that it is also our job to nurture and preserve our planet.

This process described by Hermes is very similar to the explanation of the Creation to be found in the Mystical Traditions of the Hebrew religion. It truly seems that the more different religious creation beliefs are studied, the more that they are seen as the same and tend toward the idea the religious thought and belief was once in total unity and divided into groups of individuals who thought and believed alike. These differences still divide us today but they need not. We may enhance the rejoining process of mankind into one unity by discarding our small differences and strongly emphasizing our many similarities.

~SL

WB Sam L. Land is the Worshipful Master of Linn Lodge No. 326 A.F. & A.M. in Linn, Missouri. He also holds membership in both York and Scottish Rite, including Knight Templar. He is a life member of the Missouri Lodge of Research,  a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, and the Southern California Research Lodge. His articles appear regularly in The Missouri Freemason Magazine and he has been published by The Working Tools Magazine. He has also presented research work to the AMD.  He is currently enrolled a student of the Guthrie College of the Consistory and has received the been awarded the Past Venerable Master and Past Wise Master Orders.