Square and Compass: The Fraternal Emblem

As the emblem of the oldest and largest fraternity in the world, without question, the Masonic Square and Compass is the most recognizable of all fraternal symbols. Because Freemasons are such a diverse group, and the fraternity is international, it’s pretty obvious that we don’t all look alike. We come from different generations, different countries, and different races that speak different languages, and we come from many different religious faiths. The Square and Compass is the way Freemasons have in identifying each other as Masonic brothers.

As Masons travel about in their daily lives, and we see a stranger wearing a Mason ring or displaying the symbol on the bumper of their car, we know we’ve found a new friend and brother, and all the things that may make us different from one another melt away when we meet as Brothers on the things we share in common.

The Square and Compass is a symbol of the blue lodge, our home lodge. In the great American Midwest, where I’m from, you’ll find a lodge in just about every small town, and usually several lodges in every city. Every Mason belongs to a blue lodge, or symbolic lodge, and it’s there that we receive our first three degrees in Masonry, the 3rd degree, that of Master Mason, being the highest Masonic degree a Freemason can receive. But there are fraternities within the fraternity as well, where a Mason if he so chooses can continue on and receive additional degrees to the Master Mason degree. Each body has it’s own symbol. There’s the Double Eagle of the Scottish Rite. The Crescent and Scimitar of the Shrine. The Triple Tau of the Royal Arch. The Broken Triangle of the Cryptic Masons. The Cross and Crown of the Knights Templar. And many more.

When Freemasons meet as strangers, often through these symbols, we know something about this stranger right up front. We know he is a man of Honor and integrity. That he has been judged by the men that know him best, and been found to be worthy and well-qualified to be a member of our fraternity, by sharing those same universal beliefs and tenets that we all, as Freemasons, share in common. And that he has dedicated himself to the service of his fellow men.

Freemasons wear those symbols with pride and humility. Pride that they belong to a group who have accepted as a design for living the lessons Freemasonry teaches, and humility that we have been chosen and accepted as a man worthy to share in Masonic fellowship with our brethren, and use our unique skills to the betterment of mankind.

TEC

Ben Franklin Video: Charge to the Fraternity

I thought you might enjoy this . . .

On This Day In History: The Dukes of Hazzard Premieres!

'69 Dodge Charger

It was a very important day in American history for boys my age.  The premiere of "The Dukes of Hazzard" in 1979!  It brought phrases like "get 'em, Flash," "you just hush, you dipstick,"  and "lost Sheep to shepherd, lost sheep to shepherd" into the American lexicon.  For seven seasons, Daisy squeezed into those cut-off shorts, and Bo and Luke jumped the same creek in the General Lee week after week.  You'd think even Rosco and Boss Hogg after so many years would figure out those ornery Duke boys were going to jump that same damned creek again this week to escape, but they never did.  I guess they were the "dipsticks."



I don't know why my dad let
me watch it every week . . .



But by August 16, 1985, all the young boys had grown up, and the Dukes of Hazzard faded away.  It's funny, but a few years ago, Valerie and I went to Warner Brothers Studios, and she took my picture standing in front of Crazy Cooter's Garage.  It wrecked it for me forever.  I learned that garage sits right across the square from the Gotham City Courthouse from the original Batman series, and next to a church where Elvis and Ann Margaret were married in one if those (I better be careful in word selection here) classic Elvis movies.  Around the corner from Rick's Cafe where Bogart and Bergman met again.  In fact, Cooter's garage is only a couple doors down from Ben Matlock's House, and across the street from "Animal House."

And of course there's Daisy.  Daisy was the first contender to come along and challenge that Farrah Fawcett poster on our bedroom walls.  You have no idea the trouble I've gotten into in life chasing girls wearing cut-off jeans.

TEC



Book Review: To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas

I've been down the better part of four days with the flu, and other than losing about five pounds, there's not much good that came out of the experience.  However, I did get a lot of reading done.  One of the several books I read over the past week was Will Thomas' second Barker/Llewelyn book.  I really enjoyed the first one, and I was hoping the second would be just as good.  I wasn't disappointed. 

For you Freemasons, there was an interesting "initiation" into a brotherhood of Irish loyalists that takes place during the story I think you may find a few parts of familiar. To date, there are five Will Thomas novels in this series, and I'll definitely get around to reading them all.  It's great escapist fiction set in Victorian London.  I'd highly recommend it. 

From the Publisher:

Victorian enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his young assistant Thomas Llewelyn first introduced in Will Thomas's critically acclaimed debut novel Some Danger Involved are back with a new mission in To Kingdom Come . When a bomb destroys the Special Irish Branch of Scotland Yard all fingers point to the increasingly brazen factions of Irish dissidents seeking liberation from English rule. Volunteering their services to the British government Barker and Llewelyn set out to infiltrate a secret cell of the Irish Republican Brotherhood known as the Invisibles. Posing as a reclusive German bomb maker and his anarchist apprentice they are recruited for the group's ultimate plan: to bring London to its knees and end the monarchy forever. Their adventures take them from an abandoned lighthouse on the craggy coast of Wales to the City of Light where Llewelyn goes undercover with Maire O'Casey the alluring sister of an Irish radical. Llewelyn again finds himself put to the test by his enigmatic employer as he is schooled in the deadly science of bomb making. Fraught with explosives secret initiations and vicious stick fights and featuring historical figures such as Charles Parnell and W. B. Yeats To Kingdom Come is a riveting sequel to Some Danger Involved .

TEC