Monday, December 3, 2018

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on December 10, 2018.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Ritual of the Mark Master Degree


Mark Masonry 

R. E. TREBILCOCK 


 RITUAL OF THE MARK MASTER DEGREE

    The degree of Mark Master has continued with as few changes as any Masonic degree of which we have knowledge.  It is impossible for anyone to specify accurately what the ritual consisted of previous to 1797, but in that year, Thomas Smith Webb issued the first complete Masonic Monitor which included the Capitular degrees. 

    We have before us, as we write, this edition of Webb; in it he says of the degree: 

    The first section explains the manner of convocating and opening a Mark Master Lodge.  It teaches the duties of the respective officers, and recapitulates the mystic ceremony of introducing a candidate.  In this section is exemplified the regularity and good order that was observed by the craftsmen on Mount Libanus, and in the plains and quarries of Zeredathah, and ends with a beautiful display of the manner by which one of the principal events took place.

     In the second section, the Mark Master Mason is particularly instructed in the history of this degree, and the increased obligation he is under to stretch forth his assisting hand to the relief of an indigent and worthy brother.

     The distinguishing marks and characteristics are also explained and illustrated in this section.  In the course of the lecture the following texts of Scripture are recited, viz.:

Monday, November 5, 2018

Stated Meeting Notice


The next Stated Meeting of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, November 12, 2018.  Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend.  All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.


Thursday, September 20, 2018

Work Night


This coming Monday, September 24, we will be conferring a Mark Master degree. A light dinner will be served at 6:30 pm. Degree work starts at 7:15 pm. Any York Rite Masons working under the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Texas are welcome to attend. 

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Stated Meeting

The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on August 13, 2018.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

The Triangle in Freemasonry


   The triangle is one of the most interesting of the symbols of Ancient Craft Masonry.  Its symbolism is best portrayed in the degrees of the Chapter, yet in the Lodge we have it as a concealed symbol – in the arrangement of the lights, the seating of the three principal officers, and in certain ritual matters. 

   The most intriguing symbol of Freemasonry, in our estimation, is the Triangle.  We do not recall any mention of a triangle in the Craft degrees, and yet we cannot overlook the arrangement of the lights, the location of the three principal officers, and other esoteric symbolism.  Craft Masonry is built around a cube which is the symbolism of perfection in physical or material things.

   Over a century ago, the Forty-seventh problem of Euclid was worn by Grand Masters as a symbol of their office.  This was a triangle symbol, although not the equal sided or angled equilateral triangle.

   The triangle is found variously arranged in the Masonic system.  In one instance, we have the interlaced triangles, one black, the other white; the white triangle has its point up, the black triangle points down.  Thus arranged it represents the union of the active and passive forces in nature; it represents the male and female elements.  The interlaced black and white triangles represent the forces of darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, and good and evil; when properly place they represent balance and harmony.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Photographs from the Installation of Officers

Installed Officers of Washington Chapter No. 2, R.A.M., along with the immediate Past High Priest, Joseph Taylor (second from right).
Installed Officers of Houston Council No. 1, R.& S. M., along with the immediate Past Thrice Illustrious Master, Joseph Taylor (right).
Principal Officers of Houston Council No. 1:  Al Florido, Right Illustrious Deputy Master (second from left); Kleber Sequeira, Thrice Illustrious Master (second from right); Chuck Ivy, Illustrious Principal Conductor of the Work (right).



Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Stated Meeting Notice


The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on June 11, 2018.  In addition to the regular order of business, an election of officers for the 2018 - 2019 capitular year will be held.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Monday, May 7, 2018

Stated Meeting


The next Stated Meeting of Washington Chapter No. 2, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, May 14, 2018.  In addition to the regular order of business, an election of officers for the 2018 – 2019 Capitular year will be held.  Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend.

All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.

Friday, April 13, 2018

District Deputy Visit



Houston Council No.1 Royal & Select Master stated meeting and visit of the R. Illustrious Henry Hughes III, District Deputy Grand Master for the District 8, Grand Council R & SM of Texas, this past Monday.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

The Grand Council



by
 Dean L. Bates, Past High Priest (IL)

     The first three officers of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, namely, the High Priest, King, and Scribe, are often referred to as the Grand Council.  These officers represent Jeshua, Zerubbabel, and Haggai, who formed the first grand council at Jerusalem following the return of the Jews from Babylonish captivity in the year B.C.

     In order to obtain an understanding of the lives and works of Jeshua, Zerubbabel, and Haggai, it would appear necessary to first present a background of the times in which they lived and to briefly review the history of the Hebrew people.

     Israel’s real history, as distinguished from legend, begins with the entrance of the Hebrew tribes into Palestine and the conquest of the Philistines by King David.  After conquering the Philistines, David subdued the surrounding nations.  David reigned from 1010 to 975 B.C., and was succeeded by one of his sons, Solomon, who ruled from 975 to 935 B.C.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Stated Meeting Notice


The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on February 12, 2018.  In addition, the Thrice Illustrious Master, Joseph Taylor, has set aside the fourth Monday of each month for degree work and ritual practice.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Friday, January 19, 2018

Passing the Veils: its Historical Development and Symbolism


PETER JOHN MILLHEISER

2005 Grand Historian Lecture,
The Most Excellent Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Florida

      Some of the most fascinating changes that have occurred in the Royal Arch ritual have been those of the legends of the vault and the veils.  Philostorgius, the fourth century great historian, wrote that as the Roman Emperor Julian was attempting to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, a stone was dislodged revealing a hidden vault.  Workers were lowered into the vault, whose dimensions formed a perfect square.  One of the workers struck his foot against a column upon which was found a book wrapped in a fine linen cloth.  His companions outside the vault then pulled this worker up by a rope tied around his waist.  The book appeared new, and written in the book in large letters was the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

    There were other variations of the vault legend.  In the Book of Enoch, Enoch had a vision from God of nine vaults and he proceeded to build a secret sanctuary based on the plan that had been revealed to him.  The vaults were built one under the other and in the ninth and lowest vault was a triangle of the purist gold upon which was inscribed the name of God.