Remembering Charlie

When I joined the Scottish Rite in the fall of 2008, I posted about my experience at the Greenville Fall Reunion. I want to quote from that post regarding the Brother who welcomed me in the parking lot of the Scottish Rite center early that Saturday morning before sunrise:

What a day. Up at 3:30 am. Coffee and the paper. Shave and shower. Get ready and leave for Greenville by 6:00 am in order to be at the Scottish Rite Center by 7:00 am. I got there about 6:50 am and it was still pitch dark. No cars in the huge parking lot, so I just stood there in the dark. About 7:00 a Lincoln Town Car pulls into the lot and parks right beside me. An older Brother gets out wearing the white hat of a 33d Mason. He greets me and I shake his hand and introduce myself.

"Where is everybody?" I asked.

"C'mon," he replied, "we gotta go in around back."

Now keep in mind this is a large parking lot and I'd parked toward the front of the center. We start a rather long walk down the hill to the back of the center and as we round the corner I see several cars in the back. I was immediately struck by how kind and gracious this elder Brother had been to me. He could have just pulled up, rolled his window down, and said "You need to park around back." But he didn't. He saw me standing there "stranded" and parked beside me in order to walk me to the back where everyone was--and him probably at least 25 years my senior. What a memorable way to start me off in the Scottish Rite.

That Brother's name was Charles "Charlie" Saylors. I learned yesterday that Brother Saylors passed away on Sunday. I regret not getting to know him better, but I have fond memories of him giving impromptu lectures at the most inopportune times (as far as the Degree Teams were concerned) all during the presentation of the Degrees at the Reunion. It was easy to see then that Brother Charlie commanded the respect and admiration of his fellow Masons, and I'm quite sure he will be missed by one and all.

Godspeed, Brother Charlie.

Albert Pike and Freemasonry

I have received a few requests over the months to consolidate my articles on Albert Pike and Freemasonry into one easily accessible article. Rather than cutting and pasting all seven articles into one, I decided just to create a new blog post with links to the individual articles.

• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 1
• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 2
• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 3
• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 4
• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 5
• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 6
• Albert Pike and Freemasonry - Part 7

KSA Chartering Ceremony

Tonight at the stated meeting of the Valley of Spartanburg, the Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Scottish Rite for the State of South Carolina conducted a brief, but very solemn and moving signing ceremony, in which our newly formed Chapter of the Knights of St. Andrew came into existence. In his exhortation, the S.G.I.G. reminded all the charter members of the solemn duties we learned in the 29th Degree of the Rite and charged us ever to diligently uphold them as a duly constituted body of the Order.

The photo above is of the charter members and officers taken after the signing of the Charter. The S.G.I.G., Ill. Mike Smith, is in the center holding the Charter along with the newly appointed Venerable Master of the Chapter. That's me to the left of S.G.I.G., the Secretary-Treasurer, dressed in our KSA regalia.

Knights of St. Andrew

After several organizational meetings where a core group of 32° Masons in our Valley have fleshed out a vision for a KSA chapter, we are now down to the rubber hitting the road. At the next regular meeting of our valley the S.G.I.G of SC will sign the charter bringing into existence the Spartanburg chapter of the Knights of St. Andrew. Coinciding with the signing of the charter, he will appoint the four senior officers, of which I will be the secretary-treasurer.

We are all very excited to begin this new Masonic body in Spartanburg. While fully cognizant that most KSA chapters are service organizations, our chapter is going to be different. We intend to focus not only on service to the valley, charity work, and fundraisers, but on the esoteric and Masonic educational needs of our members. Ritual, esoterica, and education will factor heavily into all our meetings and activities.

Junior Deacon Pro Tempore

Tonight was the stated communication at my Blue Lodge. Our Junior Deacon could not attend, so I was asked to fill in. It was an interesting experience because the Junior Deacon has considerably more to do in a regular meeting than a Steward.

I was able to report that our Lodge website is off to a successful start for 2009. Based on inquiries we've received from the web site in the month of February, it looks like we will be getting as many as three new members.

Our District Deputy Grand Master was in attendance tonight, which was a real treat. He chided me about not updating this blog very often, so I figured I'd better make a post. ;-)

And that's all for this month. Till next time, the journey continues...

The Journey Continues

I have been extremely busy since the first of the year, and while my online Masonic activities may have suffered, my "real life" ones haven't.

As I posted previously, I am a Steward this year at our Lodge. We had the district-wide officer instructional meeting back in January, and it was very good to see how seriously the lodges in the area take Masonic education. I learned a lot at that meeting.

Our local Scottish Rite valley is organizing a Chapter of the Knights of St. Andrew and I'm on the organizing team for that. We are in the process now of deciding on regalia, etc. and we hope to have the Chapter constituted soon.

I've also been asked to participate on the 18th Degree Team for the upcoming joint North Carolina/South Carolina Scottish Rite Reunion to be held in Charlotte in April. Lots of memory work involved for this. (Those of you in the Scottish Rite know what I mean.)

And that's about it. My Masonic journey continues...