Steampunk isn’t just for nerdy sci-fi fans, but the Illuminati too: “What occurred to me is that, perhaps tangentially, the resurrection of the Victorian ideal of Masonic Traditional Observance Lodges seems to mirror the Neo-Victorian idea of the Steampunk movement.” |Masonic Traveler|
“Barack belongs to the world’s oldest fraternity, Freemasonry, which is founded on brotherly love, relief and truth tenets, just like 13 of the US charter signatories and some US presidents. This should ensure the world that these said tenets would be his guiding lights.” |Philistar|
Carving a unique niche is one of the keys to launching a magazine in an environment where print media is steadily declining. Take The Journal of The Masonic Society for example. It’s a full-color quarterly magazine tackling the “challenges facing Freemasonry today,” like decreased enrollment at a time of mounting interest. Launched this summer, it’s edited by Freemasons for Dummies author Christopher L. Hodapp and bills itself as the exclusive publication for the initiated:
“The Journal of The Masonic Society the only North American-based magazine devoted to the fraternity of Freemasonry that accepts advertising. What this means is that for the first time in decades, companies with products of interest to Freemasons – jewelry, regalia, books, gifts, clothing, and more.”
In New Jersey, the secret fraternal order known as the Freemasons are facing a sharp decline in their ranks. In the past 8 years, membership “has decreased by nearly 8,000 to 27,800.” In the post-WWII era, the Garden State counted 110,000 members statewide and even “claims to have the first known Freemason in America, John Skene of Scotland, who settled in Burlington County in October 1682.” Although the Masons have traditionally wrapped themselves in cloaks of secrecy, the fraternity is increasingly publicizing their events and taking credit for the charitable work they do, hoping the goodwill might alleviate any fear the public still conjures up about the mysterious order. NY lodges have also seen a reduction in membership but they’re still ecstatic about having the first Freemasonic governor in sixty years. |CourierPost|
Last week we mentioned David Paterson being the first Freemason in six decades to serve as Governor of New York and how he’s a member of Boyer Lodge #1. Recently, his long respected lodge’s website has been thoroughly hacked and taken over by a bloody font dripping chap named MuSaLLaT who is still pulling the strings. This must have something do with Holy Grail or something, right?
Freemasons from Boyer Lodge #1
Although he’s come clean about his marital affairs, drug usage, and medical maladies, one thing that replacement governor David Paterson hasn’t openly discussed is his involvement with Freemasonry, the long time mysterious fraternal order that has kept conspiracy theorists busy for centuries and has enjoyed a tremendous mainstream uptick of curiosity since The Da Vinci Code. It turns out that he is not only New York’s first blind governor, but also the first Freemason to lock down the governorship in more than six decades. According to the Freemasonry for Dummies blog, “Brother Paterson is a member of Boyer Lodge #1, of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York.” Established in 1812 and located in Harlem, it is the “oldest continuously operating Prince Hall lodge in the world,” and was named after “Haitian soldier-statesman Jean Pierre Boyer, who later became the first president of Haiti after their war of liberation from France.” The City Room has a list of the other 19 Governors who wore funny outfits while reciting excitingly blasphemous things.
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