Leaving Freemasonry is a subject that is usually avoided. Dying as a freemason is respected (and rightly so) and leaving due to totally unavoidable circumstances that make membership impossible is regretted; but leaving because you’re just tired of it is something that we pretend doesn’t happen. Today, I would like to talk about that elephant in the room.
Congratulations to W. Bro Meerman and Bro Van Rij on becoming the 2nd and 3rd Principles of Swan Chapter. This also entitles W. Bro Meerman to perform the role of Worshipful Master in the Excellent Degree and Bro. Van Rij to do likewise in the Mark Degree. It also enables them to wear these beautiful robes, which is really handy for when people forget to turn the heaters on (as happened during the Installation).
Some of our more pedantic brethren have expressed to me their confusion with the layout of the lodge tonight. Our lodge, as you know, usually has the figurative ‘East’ in line with the magnetic East but tonight we had our East facing South (which meant that we had our ‘South’ in the West). Having a lodge room that actually corresponds to the associated magnetic direction usually means that your building has been specifically built with that purpose in mind. But, in the hay day of Freemasonry, many lodges were held in town halls and such like and the likelihood of them happening to be aligned East – West was slim. Consequently, the layout of a lodge room does not actually *need* to be geographically correct. The points of the compass mentioned during our opening ceremony have to do with the symbology of the Masonic Story and not the physical alignment of the building.
On Tuesday the 5th of June Bro. Desmond Vander Ven was given the 3rd degree. In other words, on Tuesday the 5th of June Bro. Desmond Vander Ven became qualified to do a Mark Master Mason degree. Just like his proposer… and his seconder… Will he take the 4th step? Stay tuned folks.
It was tragic to see. Poor Brother Boyd had that ‘rabbit caught in headlights’ look as he stood in the middle of the lodge and tried to answer his Questions After Raising. We’ve all been there. Had his nerves given out? No. Had he gone totally blank? No. Did he skimp on the preparation for the Questions? Far from it. He had fallen into the trap that so many young masons fall into. A trap that they always fall into only once. As the saying goes, ‘the quality of your information is dependent upon the quality of your source’. Bro Boyd, rather than study his little black book, had turned to the Internet to find the answers. I’m sure he would have done a superlative job had he been standing in the USA. But, last night, as he stood before his brothers in a Western Australian lodge, his perfect knowledge of the answers to a completely different set of questions aided him not. Cheer up Bro. It’s a rite of passage for many of our younger members. And you, are now, one of us.
More than three hundred of our brothers from the WAC were sent to fight in World War One. Ninety-seven of them never came home. In honour of those men and the families that suffered as a result of their loss, our lodge places a wreath at both the Guildford and Bassendean War memorials every ANZAC day. I would like to thank the brethren who attended the ceremonies with me and especially Bro Boyd who (along with his son Will) laid the wreath at the Guildford ceremony.
Bro Kevin Boyd (or ‘Mark’ to those who keep getting his name wrong) is not only our newest Master Mason but last night became our newest Mark Master Mason as well. Consequently, he may now proudly wear his distinctive breast jewel in our Craft meetings. By taking advantage of the new ruling that enables Master Masons to undertake their Mark degree as soon as they are Raised, he was able to begin his journey in Chapter without having to go through the full twelve month waiting period. His occasional tendency to make the Senior Deacon somewhat superfluous by delivering the lines before actually being prompted to do so have marked him out as a person to.… be dealt with :-). We look forward to giving him a role in the upcoming Mark Degree.
On the 4th of April 2018, I (Bro. Meerman) was installed as Worshipful Master of The Guildford Bassendean Lodge with those time honoured words used by all Installing Officers to a new WM, “OK, she’s all yours. Just try not to break anything.”
Brother Thomas took the fourth step in masonry last night and now proudly wears the jewel of a Mark Master Mason. If YOU want to look as sharp as him, make some enquiries about how to join Swan Chapter. The Mark degree differs significantly from the first three degrees in that it is considerably more theatrical (and a great deal more fun) whilst still maintaining the dignity that Freemasonry is famous for (with the exception of Companion Van Rij 🙂 ). I have yet to meet any Chapter member who doesn’t wish that they hadn’t waited so long to continue their masonic journey.
Those people who have visited The Guildford Bassendean Lodge will be aware that we lack an Organist. Unfortunately, this is an increasing problem for many lodges as, among the sub-set of new members, there are very few who can play that particular instrument. Will there be a time in the future where the Masonic Odes are being sung to the metallic sounds of an electric guitar? I suspect not 🙂