Since we began in 2007, The Midnight Freemasons has been the leader in providing a wide range of articles on topics of interest for Freemasons and those interested in the topic of Freemasonry.
Esotericon - The First of Many Masonic Moonshots
by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor
Bro. Kevin Homan
Many of you have probably heard either through here, or any number of the other Masonic dedicated sites and social media of the recent success of the first inaugural Mid-Atlantic Esotericon held in Manassas Virginia. Many thanks to RWB Johnson for writing about the success of our Conference, and even bigger thanks for your direct involvement in making it a success. As RWB Johnson adequately covers all the details of the event, we won’t rehash them here, what we did find both eye-opening and concerning from his piece however was this line;
“Conversely, The Mid-West Conference of Grand Lodge Education had a whole 20 dudes present.”This line is eye-opening and disappointing for the sole reason of we were four Brethren who ran a Conference that outgrew its venue in our first year. We had 147 Brethren attend our event, Brethren from as far west as Seattle Washington, and even an international Brother who came down from Canada. We…were four…Brothers. Contrast that with the Mid-West Conference of Grand Lodge Education where you have multiple Grand Lodges coordinating an event, with far more resources at their disposal than we had, and the disparity becomes really clear. Now, we don’t know exactly why this event only was able to pull in twenty Brethren, and while we have some guesses, we will not speculate without knowing concrete facts.
What we can talk about without speculation is that the hunger for Masonic education is most definitely there, and it’s there for more than just Esoterics, although we certainly know that hunger is there for that as well. No, the appetite for Masonic education is there for ALL topics, as shown by the success of the Masonicon held annually by the Brethren of Ezekiel Bates Lodge in Attleboro MA. The Grand Lodge of Ohio each year hosts Camp Masonry, a multi-day Masonic event combining education, ritual and Degree exemplification all in one weekend, making both ritualists AND education seeking Masons happy at the same time. Of course, and again, our Esotericon was a rousing success with an educational focus of esoterical and mystical topics. What is our point you might be asking? Our point is that the interest in these Masonic topics is absolutely there, so getting more than twenty Brethren to show up to an event shouldn’t be happening, these are the types of things that sell every single ticket or seat available to them and STILL have interest for attendance.
You all may be wondering what our special sauce was that made our first-time event a success. While we’d love to claim it was hard, and a lot of blood sweat and tears went into the making of the Esotericon, the reality is ANY Mason or group of Masons can put together a successful event like this with limited resources. Now, that’s not to say it was an entirely pain-free event, it was not. We certainly have some things to improve upon for next year’s Con, but we also got lucky in that we did not have anything seriously terrible go wrong. So, how did four Brethren run a successful first-time event you may be asking yourself? Here’s how;
All this is to say, anybody, any Mason can run one of these. All it takes is an idea, a plan, a bit of dedication and with the interest out there in Masonic education the Brethren will come. Whether you’re a Grand Lodge, a group of Grand Lodges or just a group of four Brethren like ourselves, if you’re interested in putting on an educational program similar to what we did, please, reach out to us. We want to see these events pop up all across the Masonic World, and we want them to be a success. Masonic education never truly went away, but it has been neglected for far too long. If we’re going to stem the flow of Brethren out of our Lodges, if we’re going to hold the interest of the Millenial and future generations, and give them a reason to join, its going to take more than just four Brethren to effect that change. Join us, let’s do something great together!
~Joe, Jason, Jon and Kevin - Hosts and organizers of the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Esotericon
Bro Kevin Homan was Raised to the Sublime Degree of
Master Mason in August of 2007 at Olive Branch Lodge No. 114 in Leesburg, VA.,
and since then, has like many Masons, involved himself in more and more bodies.
In addition to being a Past Master of Olive Branch Lodge, Kevin is a member of
Potomac Chapter No. 88, RAM, currently serves as the Eminent Commander of
Piedmont Commandery No. 26 and the Alexandria Scottish Rite Bodies.
Additionally Bro Kevin is a member of several of the York RIte invitational
Bodies.
Bro Homan has been married to his wife Hillary for the past ten years and they have three wonderful (mostly) children. When he’s not doing something with his family or the Lodge Kevin enjoys a good glass of Scotch, the occasional cigar and reading a good book in his office, which “smells of leather-bound books and rich mahogany”.
You all may be wondering what our special sauce was that made our first-time event a success. While we’d love to claim it was hard, and a lot of blood sweat and tears went into the making of the Esotericon, the reality is ANY Mason or group of Masons can put together a successful event like this with limited resources. Now, that’s not to say it was an entirely pain-free event, it was not. We certainly have some things to improve upon for next year’s Con, but we also got lucky in that we did not have anything seriously terrible go wrong. So, how did four Brethren run a successful first-time event you may be asking yourself? Here’s how;
- We started our planning early, especially the social media campaign. After our initial discussions, and our consensus that we would go forward with our event we created our Facebook page, Twitter and Google accounts and put teasers out there as we came up with our speaker list.
- We put together a truly kick ass group of speakers, and got all but one of our initial list of eight speakers.
- With our speakers set, we opened our sale on event tickets…without announcing our speaker lineup. For the first several months of ticket sales we sold tickets for a ten-dollar discount, and also offered a limited run of pre-event tickets to a brewery the night before. We created an incentive for people to buy tickets early.
- After a week we started our announcement of speakers, releasing a new speaker each week after that. Each speaker announcement coincided with a bump in ticket sales. It was a way to keep the event fresh in the minds of those following us and interested in attending.
- We would be remiss to point out that two Brethren of our Organizers are Masonic podcast hosts…we got some really good advertising on the Masonic Roundtable and Whence Came You Podcasts. Don’t fret if you don’t know any of the hosts on these shows, they’re really nice guys and I’m sure they’d be happy to help out if they can.
- Good planning. We planned everything out, put it on a scheduled and held occasional meetings when we felt they were necessary. We enlisted our local Rainbow and Demolay for help and encouraged donations to their organizations from the attendees.
- Last but not least, frequent communication with our attendees. We tried to let our attendees know what was going on when there was something important to relate to them. Whether it be asking for shirt sizes, meal preference, etc. we made sure we stayed in touch from time to time.
All this is to say, anybody, any Mason can run one of these. All it takes is an idea, a plan, a bit of dedication and with the interest out there in Masonic education the Brethren will come. Whether you’re a Grand Lodge, a group of Grand Lodges or just a group of four Brethren like ourselves, if you’re interested in putting on an educational program similar to what we did, please, reach out to us. We want to see these events pop up all across the Masonic World, and we want them to be a success. Masonic education never truly went away, but it has been neglected for far too long. If we’re going to stem the flow of Brethren out of our Lodges, if we’re going to hold the interest of the Millenial and future generations, and give them a reason to join, its going to take more than just four Brethren to effect that change. Join us, let’s do something great together!
~Joe, Jason, Jon and Kevin - Hosts and organizers of the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Esotericon
Bro Kevin Homan was Raised to the Sublime Degree of
Master Mason in August of 2007 at Olive Branch Lodge No. 114 in Leesburg, VA.,
and since then, has like many Masons, involved himself in more and more bodies.
In addition to being a Past Master of Olive Branch Lodge, Kevin is a member of
Potomac Chapter No. 88, RAM, currently serves as the Eminent Commander of
Piedmont Commandery No. 26 and the Alexandria Scottish Rite Bodies.
Additionally Bro Kevin is a member of several of the York RIte invitational
Bodies. Bro Homan has been married to his wife Hillary for the past ten years and they have three wonderful (mostly) children. When he’s not doing something with his family or the Lodge Kevin enjoys a good glass of Scotch, the occasional cigar and reading a good book in his office, which “smells of leather-bound books and rich mahogany”.
Ten Rubies
by Midnight Freemason Contributor
by Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR
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| Frank S. Land |
In 1919, 28-year old Frank Land ran the Scottish Rite Masons Relief Committee in Kansas City. As the successful program grew, Land hired 17-year old Louis Lower to help with its increasing workload. Louis had just lost his father. Land understood how much Louis missed his father due to his separation from his own Dad as a youth. He was so impressed with young Louis that in February 1919, he suggested forming a club at the Scottish Rite temple in Kansas City for Louis and some of his friends. Over the course of the next week, Louis rounded up eight friends to become members. Those nine boys and Frank Land met for the first time on February 19, 1919, having no clue that their little "club" would eventually become a worldwide organization known as DeMolay International.
Land named the order after Jaques DeMolay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar who was martyred under the reign of France's Phillip the Fair. When DeMolay refused to admit to the charges Phillip and a corrupt Pope had manufactured against him, he was burned at the stake on March 18, 1314.
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| Louis Lower |
Much is known of Frank Land, who in his day became world famous as the founder of DeMolay. Less is known, however, of the original nine boys even though their memory is revered within the order. Today they are all gone.
Originally ten pearls surrounded the crest on the DeMolay pin. Frank decreed that as he and each of the nine Brothers passed away, the Brother's pearl would be replaced with a ruby.
With a bit about each of the original DeMolays, the rubies appeared in this order:
Ivan Bently (March 18, 1903 – July 11, 1933): Little is known of Bentley. Until recently even his date of death was in dispute. Early DeMolay records show he died in 1921. In fact, he was killed in an accident in 1933, when he became the first ruby on the crest. His only known accomplishment - he was one of the first DeMolays to earn the Chevalier honor. Bentley is buried in Kansas City's Forest Hill cemetery with his parents.
Louis Lower (February 2, 1902 – July 18, 1943): The first DeMolay was born and lived his entire life in Kansas City. Having received the Chevalier honor, Lower was the first member of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. He was an up-and-coming civic leader who had a significant role in cleaning up the corrupt Kansas City political machine. After accomplishing this, the mayor of KC appointed Lower as manager of the Municipal Auditorium. On his way home from a long day of work in the early July morning hours, a drunken security guard attempting to direct traffic confronted Lower for driving in the area. Fully within his rights, Lower challenged the guard for directing traffic while under the influence. The guard responded by pulling out his revolver and shooting Lower in the chest at point-blank range. The guard was convicted of murder, but served only three years of a fifteen-year sentence. Eight hundred people attended Lower's funeral, with a shocked and saddened Frank Land delivering the eulogy. Lower is buried in Mount Washington cemetery, Independence, Missouri.
Frank Land (June 21, 1890 – November 8, 1959): DeMolay's founder became the third ruby on the crest when he died unexpectedly of scleroderma, a buildup of collagen in skin and organs. In addition to his role with DeMolay, Land was Imperial Potentate of the Shrine. He held the thirty-third degree in the Scottish Rite and was awarded its highest honor, the Grand Cross. He was a great friend of Harry Truman and President Calvin Coolidge appointed him to promote his national youth program. Land is buried in Kansas City's Mount Moriah cemetery.
Edmund Marshall (September 29, 1902 – November 7, 1966): Awarded the Chevalier honor in 1920, Marshall graduated from the University of Missouri. He was the president of the Kansas City Board of Trade, an American commodity futures and options exchange. Marshall is buried in Mount Hope cemetery, Webb City, Missouri.
Clyde Stream (June 15, 1902 – May 13, 1971): Born in Warrensburg, Mississippi, Stream lived briefly in the Kansas City area, then moved to Springfield, Illinois where he worked for the Sangamo Electric Company until his retirement in 1967. A recipient of the DeMolay Legion of Honor, he was an active member of Springfield Lodge and other Masonic Bodies. He died in Bradenton, Florida and is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.
Gorman McBride (March 14, 1902 - November 10, 1973): He was the second obligated DeMolay and the first Master Councilor of the Mother Chapter. He received the Chevalier honor in 1920 and was a member of the International Supreme Council. McBride was the only one of the original nine to receive the Founder's Cross from Frank Land. He became a Kansas City area attorney. He is buried in Kansas City's Mount Moriah cemetery.
Ralph Sewell (February 27, 1901 - July 1976): Sewell was born and lived his entire life in the Kansas City area. He became the credit manager for the H. D. Lee Mercantile Company, makers of Lee jeans. He was a skilled pianist and organist. He is buried in Mount Moriah cemetery, Kansas City.
Elmer Dorsey (July 20, 1903- November 17, 1979): Dorsey was a successful businessman who moved to Dallas, Texas and became an Advisor to Richardson DeMolay Chapter. He died in November 1979.
William Steinhilber (October 7, 1903 - October 28, 1992): He was the first captain of a DeMolay baseball team. Born in Arkansas, Steinhilber lived in Kansas City prior to moving to San Diego California, where he became a Stock and Bond broker.
Jerome Jacobson (October 05, 1904 - May 10, 2002): Jacobson graduated from the University of Kansas and was a successful attorney in Missouri. The last survivor of the original nine DeMolay boys, he is the only member of that group to be inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame. A lifetime resident of Kansas City, he is buried in its Mount Moriah cemetery.
Some may not even realize that ten rubies now adorn the DeMolay Crest and every member's DeMolay pin. They are small and many may not even notice them, yet they represent a legacy of accomplishments and the bond of brotherhood of nine young men and their leader.
~SLH
Bro. Steve Harrison, 33° , is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.
The Empty Chair
by Midnight Freemason Contributor
Bro. Erik Marks
As Master Mason's entered, we were asked to bring a piece of Thuja Occidentalis, Northern white cedar, representing the Sprig of Acacia, from a wooden box in which they were provided. The current secretary and past master of Montgomery Lodge, our own R. E. Jackson, handpicked cedar for the occasion. The Sprig of Acacia is one of my favorite Masonic symbols. I agree it was fitting to have Cedar as the representative evergreen. It is referred to repeatedly in the Torah or the Bible as the wood of choice for the construction of King Solomon's Temple. Practically, it is an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, insect repellent, and strong. In ancient Egyptian culture it was resin was used for embalming and burned in Tibetan Monasteries as incense. Many of us find its scent pleasing. Spiritually or energetically it and its resin are burned or used for cleansing and purification, protection and consecration; it is calming, grounding, and amplifies spiritual and ritualistic intent.
This is the third year Worshipful Brother Jackson has organized and officiated the Empty or Vacant as it is sometimes called, degree at Montgomery Lodge on Memorial Day. Though I've not attended a Masonic funeral service, I'm told the two are similar. The degree was open to the public, which I appreciated. For me the openness served the dual purposes of education about some of what we do and how we conduct ourselves, and for people to have an experience with us that is positive and dignified. I won't recount the specifics of the degree here as I feel I would not adequately convey what I experienced. It's worth making the trek to be present for it in person when you are able, at Montgomery or Lodge nearer you.
EAM
Brother Erik Marks is a clinical social worker whose usual vocation has been in the field of human services in a wide range of settings since 1990. He was raised in 2017 by his biologically younger Brother and then Worshipful Master in Alpha Lodge in Framingham, MA. You may contact brother Marks by email: erik@StrongGrip.org
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