"Great progress in truth is difficult in the midst of the world and under the favor of fortune; duplicity and double seeming are needed in dealing with the one and anxiety for preserving the other. Our rest is not therefore in God."

Initiation...it is a deeply misunderstood word in today's western, ego centric society. For many the word brings visions of College fraternity hazing and youthful hedonistic partying. Yet this word in ancient times symbolized a deeply personal and spiritual process though which one separated themselves from the mundane world and worked towards a deeper understanding of the Self. Remember the words of the Greek Oracle at Delphi.."Know Thyself, and thou shall know all the mysteries of the Gods and the Universe." But where does initiation enter into the equation? Life itself is a process of constant struggles and initiations. We are initiated into adulthood through rites of passage and celebrations. Is not the Bah Mitzvah or sweet sixteen coming out party a form of initiation. Are we not initiated into a new level of Self when we graduate from grammer school into high school or even college. Each of life's little struggles or initiations brings with it some personal insights. Thus if I am constantly gaining personal insights from life's little initiations why do I need to join an Order that requires a "formal" initiation.

For me it is a matter of intent and pace. Rather than let life randomly and haphazardly initiate you, by taking on some spiritual work or order you are taking responsibility for your level of growth and development. What matters to me is not the Order or organization you choose to join but that you approach the initiatic path with an open mind. The often dramatic rituals and ceremonies are meant to take you outside of your everyday mundane ego centic self. Once you get past that part of yourself that reacts to the outside world and is a reflection of the material world around you, that is when you find the first steps towards the center of your being...your true self.

That to me is the true meaning of the Initiatic Path. Is it a waste of time..that is up to the individual and the amount of effort they put into the process.

Just the humble opinion of this unknown philosopher...Unus Multorum

The 2008 Annual California Masonic Symposium "Freemasonry and Women" was held on August 22nd-23rd at the Brotherhood Masonic Center in San Francisco, and according to Past Master Adam G. Kendall, the Curator of Collections, things went quite well.  The speaker line up included the likes of Dr. John L. Cooper III, Grand Secretary and noted Masonic scholar; Janet Wintermute, Master Mason of the Eastern Order of International Co-Masonry; Ill. Robert G. Davis, author of Understanding Manhood in America: Freemasonry’s Enduring Path to the Mature Masculine.  Those privileged to have been present at the Council of Nine Muses earlier this year in Alexandria, VA will no doubt recall his paper on the role of Masonry and male archetypes in the lives of young men as it brought several hundred people to their feet in standing ovation.  

In speaking to Adam Kendall, he told me that

"The crowd was pretty mellow and all seemed to enjoy themselves. It was engaging.  Bob did a great job on the subject for the keynote speech which brought forth a better honed dimension to the original theme as far as getting the attendees to contemplate Freemasonry’s place in the lives of its initiates, along with highlighting its masculine origins.  We had some members of the Grand Lodge Feminine in attendance.  I was exhausted—having slept on the floor of the meeting room the night before.  Unless I’m actually doing a presentation, me and large crowds do not mix and I tend to hang out in the background.  The crowd that attended the Friday night reception seemed to appreciate the museum and library, along with some of the new displays that went up just that week."

I can vouch for Adam's work ethic as for the last few months, every time I spoke to him after hours...he was still at work preparing for this symposium.  Our hats are off to him and the speakers that day.  It would have been ideal to make it out there to see Janet Wintermute and Bob Davis addressing the same topic from differing angles.  Adam tells me that Jay Kinney (of Gnosis Magazine fame) was also in attendance. We'll have to make sure to get out to the Coil Masonic Museum and check out some of Adam's work.  I've heard nothing but praise for the exhibits.

 I was asked to give an impromptu explanation the other day on the esoteric meanings behind the Royal Arch seal of an upright triple tau encased in a delta within a circle.  I was reminded of the infinite cipher of female knowledge that completes and complements the finite square of male knowledge.  The completion of these two form everything from the Past Master's compass to the Egyptian Ankh, the Celtic Cross and the letter G.  

Friends,

Forgive me the title which may come off as sounding condescending and disparaging. It is not intended that way at all. In fact I say there is "Hope for Freemasonry" specifically because I disagree respectfully with many individual Freemasons (especially those in administrative positions within different  Grand Lodges) that say the Craft is fading.

Masonic Lodges like Lodge of the Nine Muses are moving away from meatloaf dinners and pure philanthropy and more towards providing good people with an "Initiatic Experience and an "Education on the Self". The tide turns and as it does membership in Freemasonry will grow as more emphasis is placed on these aspects of the "Craft". See below:

http://www.lodgeoftheninemuses.org/special/special.html

Congratulations Lodge of the Nine Muses; your actions speak volumes about your Lodge and its Brothers.

Unus Multorum...a humble unknown philosopher.

The Prayer of the Spaniard, "My God, defend me from myself", connects with a salutary feeling when we can awaken it within us, namely, that we ourselves are the only beings of whom we need be afraid on earth, whilst God is the one Nature who has reason to fear only that which is not Himself. We might extend it as follows, "My God, aid me in thy Goodness, that I may be spared from destroying thee".

Charity is a word that is thrown around too often and easily. In my case as I was growing up, Charity was more of a programmed "Social" response to help offset the guilt that built up in me as a result of living an Ego-centric life. Were you to have asked me ten years ago...what is the reason you are performing Charity...I would not have been able to answer honestly. My automatic and Politically Correct programmed response might have been... because it is the Right thing to Do.

However as I study some of the great philosophers, religious figures and mystics throughout history I see another reason for Charity. Charitable actions are more of a natural consequence of Good and Moral Living. Figures like the founder of Buddhism Siddhartha Guatama, Jesus of Nazareth, Mother Teresa and Plato to name only a few, simply lived in a manner that brought them closer to a Divine state. In other words they strove to Live in a constant process of Physical, Intellectual and Spiritual Growth. Simply by living their lives in such a way they impacted the World around them in a positive way, helping, teaching and contributing to others more through actions than words.

By impacting the World in a positive way simply by their chosen Virtuous Lifestyle they were performing the purest form of Charity. Their purpose and reason for performing Charity is more honest and true than even the politically correct response I used to give "because it is the Right thing to Do". I imagine that these Enlightened individuals might have responded to the question of "Why do you perform Charity?" by saying "We are not performing Charity. We are simply Living our Lives in a Good and Virtuous manner according to our own personal internal and external moral compasses. The positive consequences to Living a Moral Life is in and of itself the answer to that question".

"My God, aid me in thy Goodness, that I may be spared from destroying thee".

Unus Multorum... a humble unknown philosopher.

On my way to the Bohemian Grove's Manhattan cousin, the Players... (home to Mark Twain and the Booth brothers of recent National Treasure fame) I stumbled upon the Steiner headquarters.

  Now, I have spent hours in the Jungian Center's bookstore in Murray Hill.  I've been to all of the Theosophical Society buildings from midtown on up to the geometria on 72nd street's occult ley line, but I have never been aware of this place with its quaint signage.  It interested me mainly because one of the books I am finishing up now (a Christmas present from my wife) is Steiner's Misraim Service.  Sadly, they were closed for some reason.  I'll have to double back at some point.  I then walked past the AMORC lodge's marble exterior in the refined blocks just south of Grammercy Park. 

On my way back from a film shoot at the cathedral next to the Ralph Lauren Mansion, I took time for prayer in St Patrick's Cathedral where I refilled on Holy Water and stood between the shrines of St John the Baptist 

and St John the Evangelist...

I took note of a splendid pelican in its piety upon the door.

In a letter to HVBV date March 4^th 1969, Right Reverend Dr. H.W. Cummings wrote, “Whether we like it or not, we who write about the doings of Freemasons some two centuries ago must remember that all branches of the society have been secretive if not secret in some measure, and in many quarters, completely.  Some records that should have been made never were made others that were made were deliberately destroyed;

and numerous ones were lost.  Now when you combine secrecy with skullduggery you enter a field already over occupied and overpopulated by past artists of imagination with which the literature of Freemasonry is replete.  Let us not add any more."

"The new Master Mason is encouraged, however, to expect the advent of 'that Bright and Morning Star Who brings peace and consolation to the human race."

"The mock secrets will give way to the true arcana and so the mystae will see their way. Here is a survival of the old Christian allusions which once had a place in these Mysteries before they fell under the editorship of Unitarians or Deists." (Arthur Edward Waite & the Rectified Scottish Rite by Trevor Stewart (Past Prestonian Lecturer UGLE) p. 22)

Casanova said on the subject of the "great secret" of Freemasonry, that if you know what it is, don't say anything to anyone, because if they are not smart enough to figure it out themselves, they are not smart enough to understand it even if told by another.

I tend not to think that 'smart' implied pure intellect as it would seem to lean more towards spiritual discernment. I cannot help but be reminded of Dion Fortune's Chapter VI on Hauntings in her occult classic "Psychic Self Defense" where she stated without apology that, "To perceive a 'haunting,' one needs, as a general rule, to be slightly psychic; it is for this reason that children, Celts and the coloured races suffer severely from such interferences, and the stolid Nordic type is comparatively immune."  

As intriguing as I find her observations & perception of racial karma and its astral capacity, the point here that strikes me as being relevant is that there are indeed variations in spiritual perception, sensory skill and discernment (being a natural ability that may be perfected with practice).  Just as there are various kinds of intelligence that one might be born with, there appears to be a great variance in people's ability to resonate with spiritual concepts or experience spiritual phenomena.  As the substance of the Craft of building that house not made with hands is undoubtedly spiritual in essence, to properly build one must be a receptive vessel for Divine Inspiration.  This is not possible with dismissive and narrow outlooks. 

Mystics successful in their life’s journey often come to an epiphany early on in their youth where they realize that the reactionary doubt that can arise in reaction to a notion or tale of the Supernatural shared by a fellow man is something to be subdued as it is the very restraint that keeps a profane man from insight into the little known sciences and realities of the unseen.  The subjacation of such a flaw in the Mystic’s character goes hand in hand with the Masonic Art were we develop the Listening Ear which itself works quite well with the Silent Tongue.

"All the impressions which are made on us by Nature are designed to excercise our Soul during its term of penitence, to prompt us towards the eternal truths shown beneath a veil, and to lead us to recover what we have Lost."

Dear Friends,

Thank you for deciding to visit our humble website. The Rose Circle Research Foundation, Inc. and this site are first and foremost in existence for the benefit of all who are genuinely interested in the Spiritual Quest. Although enlightenment may come from introspective personal contemplation we feel that having a formal community that collects and shares Esoteric knowledge from the multiple threads in existence can be additive to your journey. We of the Rose Circle claim no hold or mastery of these topics but instead ask you to join with us in creating a positive and additive source for different Esoteric and Philisophical points of view.

In this respect we have made friends across the globe who are sharing their wisdom with us allowing us to create a depository of different papers, lectures, and poems that many may find useful as they study the Mysteries of Nature, Spirit and the Self. Please note that as we are a new organization of self motivated volunteers we will strive to continue building our archives and this website with your collective help. Your membership fees, conference and book sale proceeds allow us to maintain the site and organize events and conferences that benefit all.

"It is not the purpose of Education to deposit Kowledge into the Soul, but instead to point the Soul towards Right Living" Plato

I look forward to learning and sharing with all of you.

Unus Multorum