The Ladies of the Fellowcraft Degree

Never fully understood why the 4 cardinal virtues are represented by women....maybe to hold the brother's attention.....who knows ??

Another Great Reunion

Wow !! Another great weekend in Masonry. The Valley of Bay City held their reunion this past Friday & Saturday at the cathedral in Bay City and a good time was had by all.

The class consisted of 10 new inductees to the Valley of Bay City, these brothers achieved the 32nd degree in Masonry under the auspices of the Northern Jurisdiction of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

It was also refreshing to see so many brothers in attendance to witness the degrees and the fine work portrayed by the brothers of the Valley of Bay City. We were privileged to have the Deputy for the State of Michigan, Illus.David Bedwell in attendance along with Illus.William Dover and Illus.Walt Wheeler who are both Active Members of the Supreme Council and Illus. Jerry Thorpe Emeritus Active Member.

Grand Master Fred Kaiser, the Grand Master of Masons in Michigan was in attendance on Saturday along with 5 or 6 Past Grand Masters. The class was named after Illus. William Gregory, Treasurer Emeritus whose family visited with us during the Saturday luncheon. The luncheon was emceed by the world famous Illus.Rodney Adams who also filled in as class director during Scott Hapworth's absence. Rodney brought many nice remarks and stories and William's son gave a short history of his father's accomplishments in and out of the fraternity. The luncheon was extremely well attended, perhaps the best crowd in several years.

The class was very attentive and engaged during the portrayal of the various degrees. The Valley of Bay City can rest assured that the quality of ritual work is first class. Everyone reminisces about the class sizes of old. Well those are nice memories, but we have to continue to focus on the here and now and the future. It's the age old adage of how one eats an elephant....one piece at a time. Overall a very successful weekend and I feel that we are on the verge of great things.

Geometry or the fifth science

Here we go again.......founded........so much meaning in one word. This word.....founded......comes from the Fellowcraft lecture dealing with the 7 liberal arts and sciences, specifically Geometry or the fifth science. That word .....founded......to me always seemed awkward and not proper.....until doing some research and wouldn't you know that it is properly used and appears to have a double meaning.

found ¹  (found)

tr.v. found·ed, found·ing, founds

1. To establish or set up, especially with provision for continuing existence: The college was founded in 1872.

2. To establish the foundation or basis of; base: found a theory on firm evidence.

 

found ²  (found)

tr.v. found·ed, found·ing, founds

1. To melt (metal) and pour into a mold.

2. To make (objects) by pouring molten material into a mold.

 

So.......Masonry was set up with many provisions for continuing existence.....with the foundation found in the theory of Geometry as firm evidence.......and that Masonry was formed from Geometry......this is getting a little deep but I'm sure you will agree that our forefathers put much thought, study, and experience in writing the ritual.....and we must be careful to keep it intact for future generations.

*definitions from:   thefreedictionary.com

Byron #80

We had a great evening out at Byron Lodge #80 Wednesday evening. The Fellowcraft degree was conferred on two young brothers. The evening started with a Pastie dinner starring the world famous Linden Lodge Pasties. After dinner lodge was opened in fine fashion.

We had the pleasure of sitting in lodge with many brothers among them was WB Robert Braden, who was Master of Byron Lodge in 1956 and he also presented the working tools, incidentally he joined the craft in 1943. A very nice conferral of the Fellowcraft degree. Also, WB Jim Kerry did a fine job of lecturing and the final charge. Seems like the letter G was done in fine form as well by WB Dale Thomas. A great showing of brothers from AD #20

While driving out to Byron my first thought was wow this is a ways out then it dawned on me. Byron Lodge #80 is a fairly low number. By doing a little research on the Grand Lodge of Michigan web site, I discovered that the lodge was chartered in 1856. Wow....just think back in the day ......way back 1856 there were enough brothers in Byron to form and charter a lodge....now that's amazing and interesting.

Just a wonderful night in Masonry. These brothers really make you feel at home. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Byron #80 take advantage of it.

Triglyphs and Metopes

Triglyph

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Triglyph centered over the last column in the Roman Doric order of the Theater of Marcellus

Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are called metopes. The raised spaces between the channels themselves (within a triglyph) are called femur in Latin or meros in Greek.^[1]
The triglyph is largely thought to be a tectonic representation in stone of the wooden beam ends of the typical primitive hut, as described by Vitruvius and Renaissance writers. The wooden beams were notched in three separate places in order to cast their rough-cut ends mostly in shadow. Greek architecture (and later Roman architecture) preserved this feature, as well as many other features common in original wooden buildings, as a tribute to the origins of architecture and its role in the history and development of man.
In terms of structure, a triglyph may be carved from a single block with a metope, or the triglyph block may have slots cut into it to allow a separately cut metope (in stone or wood) to be slid into place, as at the Temple of Aphaea. There may be some variation in design within a single structure to allow for corner contraction, an adjustment of the column spacing and arrangement of the Doric frieze in a temple to make the design appear more harmonious.

Time is running out

Brothers.....there is still time to become a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret by achieving the 32nd degree in Masonry.

The Valley of Bay City Scottish Rite Masons will be having a reunion this Friday and Saturday Oct. 28-29.....it starts at 1pm Friday and continues on Saturday.
 However, you can receive everything necessary on Saturday to get your 32nd degree.  It's a great time. We meet three times a year with some fantastic meals thrown in for good measure. Contact myself or any Scottish Rite Mason and we can make arrangements. Hope to see you there !!

A Little Humor