Founded around 1118 as a monastic military order devoted to the protection of pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land following the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, the Knights Templar quickly became one of the richest and most influential groups of the Middle Ages, thanks to lavish donations from the crowned heads of Europe, eager to curry favor with the fierce Knights. By the turn of the 14th century, the Templars had established a system of castles, churches and banks throughout Western Europe. And it was this astonishing wealth that would lead to their downfall.

For the Templars, that end began in the early morning hours of Friday, October 13, 1307.

A month earlier, secret documents had been sent by couriers throughout France. The papers included lurid details and whispers of black magic and scandalous sexual rituals. They were sent by King Philip IV of France, an avaricious monarch who in the preceding years had launched attacks on the Lombards (a powerful banking group) and France’s Jews (who he had expelled so he could confiscate their property for his depleted coffers).

In the days and weeks that followed that fateful Friday, more than 600 Templars were arrested, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay, and the Order’s treasurer. But while some of the highest-ranking members were caught up in Philip’s net, so too were hundreds of non-warriors; middle-aged men who managed the day-to-day banking and farming activities that kept the organization humming. The men were charged with a wide array of offenses including heresy, devil worship and spitting on the cross, homosexuality, fraud and financial corruption.

http://www.history.com/news/why-friday-the-13th-spelled-doom-for-the-knights-templar

Many thanks to the members and guests of Detroit Commandery No. 1 last Saturday for their kind hospitality as Levant Preceptory traveled to Michigan to portray the Order of the Temple in period costume. Sir Knights came from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Canada and Trinity Commandery No. 80 in Downer's Grove, Illinois for the day, and it was a great way to spend a Saturday. Lunch and dinner were outstanding, and the Detroit Masonic Temple is the perfect place to perform this degree.

Photos thanks to Phil Whisner.



(Left to right) Chris Hodapp, Jim Dillman, Jim Iles


Front Row
Chris Hodapp, Jim Dillman, Terry Turner, Tom Tuttle, Grand Master of the Grand Encampment William H. Koon II, Grand Commander of Indiana Paul Cole, Jack Wallace, and Hermits Rob Kumpfer and Mark Haworth


Back Row
Jim Iles, Phil Whisner, Mitchell Rohrbaugh, Aaron Taylor, Carson Smith, Dale Adams, John Bridegroom, and Hermit Gary Messer

Thanks especially to Grand Commander Cole and Grand Master Koon for coming out and seeing us. Levant Preceptory is Indiana's period recreation Knight Templar team, which operates under the charter of Raper Commandery No. 1 in Indianapolis. Sir Knights participate from all across Indiana.

Earlier this year, the imbroglio over the establishment of the new Grand Priory of the Reformed and Rectified Rite of the United States of America (CBCS), body by the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the USA was pretty well covered here. The history of the battle between the Great Priory of America (GPA) and the Grand Encampment's Rectified Rite of the CBCS can be read in great detail here, admittedly from the Grand Encampment's side.

Then came the Conference of Grand Masters in Denver and the perplexing move by the Commission on Recognition to stick its institutional nose into the sovereignty and workings of an appendant body, which was clearly in violation of its mission as established since its very beginning. The unfortunate result of that meddling has been actions by several grand lodges or grand masters to declare the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar to be irregular, or to prevent their members from being Knights Templar in their states. Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, Tennessee and several others have issued various restrictions against the Grand Encampment over an issue that grand lodges have no business being involved in, and never would have done if the Commission had stuck to its original mission. The result is that Knights Templar in several states are denied membership in this organization now, and the Grand Encampment's Eye Foundation is losing valuable contributions in those states that could be helping the blind. Worst of all, much of the poison being spread against the Grand Encampment is being done behind the scenes by a tiny group of men who want to see that the only CBCS body in America remains nothing but a supper club for a handful of self-appointed elite Masons, while holding the 230 year degree system of the Rectified Rite hostage in the U.S. The Great Priory of Helvetia (Switzerland) was desirous of having the Rectified Rite practiced, with full conferral of the degrees, in the United States, and they were and remain well aware of the "supper club" dead end of the GPA. The Swiss desire to have their Order's degrees worked properly as it is all over the world except in the United States.

Unfortunately, the GPA changed its mind after the agreement in place since 1932 and became desirous of becoming a sovereign and independent Templar order in the U.S. That meant the sovereignty of the Grand Encampment was being challenged by them. That is what motivated the actions of the Grand Encampment to seek a charter.

I happened to come across a complete collection of reports by the Commission on Recognition dating back to 1962. That's just shy of 50 years. In the five decades of reports I have, not one single summary brings up an appendant body. In fact, the standard preface for decades read as follows:

"The Commission on Information for Recognition was organized in 1952 as a facility to gather, collate, and from time to time revise information on Grand Lodges in other lands, as a service to this Conference.

The Commission neither advises nor recommends that recognition be given to any Grand Lodges, but merely indicates whether or not it is considers that a Grand Lodge in question satisfies the condition of regularity."

Grand Lodges. Not appendant bodies, Shriners, Tall Cedars, Scottish Rite, Templar, Royal Arch, Grottoes, OES Grand Chapters, or anything else. Grand Lodges alone are its sole consideration. Since 1952. Because Grand Lodges do NOT recognize foreign appendant bodies. US Supreme Councils recognize other Scottish Rite bodies at their discretion. The Grand Encampment recognizes foreign Templar bodies at its discretion. Grand Lodges stay out of these situations. Until now, apparently.

Thankfully, I live in Indiana. We have a little thing called common sense here. It's why more Vice Presidents of the U.S. have come from this state than any other. We are a calming influence. I hope that's the case again with this issue. MY immediate Past Grand Master and his Deputy GM (now GM of Indiana) wrote a letter to the Conference of Grand Masters demanding the sacking of the members of the Commission on Recognition for failing to follow their own guidelines as set down by the Conference, for substantially amending the written version of their report after the oral version was read and accepted at the Conference, and for altering its own mission statement in the printed proceedings to suddenly claim appendant bodies were indeed part of their purview, without permission of the Conference. I hope that letter is taken seriously by the head of the Conference, because the ex post facto action of the Commission was not honest. And I say that even though I have friendship and admiration for several Masons on the Commission. The domino effect of what they've done because of a pissing war between Masons who used to be friends has set in motion a destructive wave that needs to stop.

But now a larger issue is about to break on the horizon. Because certain grand masters and grand lodges have branded the Grand Encampment as irregular, that is a charge that carries severe and derogatory monetary effects, as well as harm to the institutional reputation of the Grand Encampment. One GL has even threatened to seize the money of the Grand Commandery, and the Knights Templar Educational Foundation in their state. As a result, a lawsuit of defamation has now been filed against those grand masters and past grand masters who labeled the Grand Encampment as irregular, along with the Conference of Grand Masters. Meddling in the internal affairs of an appendant body is a dangerous precedent. Should GLs now look into whether all of the members of Shrine Clubs in Europe are regular or not? Should GLs start questioning the patents of Scottish Rite bodies and Supreme Councils? Really? And what of all of the various bodies that meet at Masonic Week every year? Should GLs investigate the origins of all of the AMD degrees? Or peek up the skirts of St. Thomas of Acon, the Rosicrucians, the Knight Masons, the Operatives, etc? And does anybody want to weigh in on the Jesters?

This fight is not about regularity of degree work, it is over the supposed irregularity of origin of the chartering organization. Even a low ranking air bender like me can argue both sides of that issue with conviction. So what are GLs doing involved in this? Does any Grand Lodge really believe that the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment would have seriously started a Rectified Rite body if he truly believed the charter he had in his hot little hand was irregular, or that the entire officers' line of the Grand Encampment would just drink that Kool-Aid and follow him down such a suicidal course of action?

Really?

I despise fraternal lawsuits. No one ever comes out of them in good shape, they cost a lot of money, and reputations get harmed. As I understand it, GLs that simply said their members can't join the CBCS are not named in the suit. Only those who made the statement that the Grand Encampment or their Rectified Rite is now irregular.

There is a simple way out of this mess. GMs who passed these edicts need to rescind them and let the Grand Encampment and the CBCS chartering bodies in France and Switzerland hash out the details. Let the GEKT hash this out among its members at the next Triennial. And the Commission on Recognition needs to issue a statement saying they now have zero opinion on the issue, and that they were mistaken to do so in the first place (and they might put the wording back in their mission statement the way it's been since 1952, while they're at it). Wrecking the Knights Templar in states across the U.S. is no way to solve this. And I can't honestly believe anybody really wants to have to fly to New Hampshire and hire New Hampshire attorneys to explain themselves in open court as to why they didn't follow their own internal rules. Grand lodges are sovereign over the three degrees. Appendant bodies are sovereign over their own degrees. As long as the Rectified Rite isn't conferring the EA, FC and MM degrees, this is not GL business.

Come on, brethren. Do the right thing.

(Full disclosure: I am a member of the Grand Priory of the Reformed and Rectified Rite of the United States of America)

UPDATE: The suit does NOT involve GMs who simply ordered their members not to join the Rectified Rite. Only those who chose to label the Grand Encampment AND/OR the Rectified Rite as irregular are named in the suit. It's a fine distinction, but the suit argues that labeling either the GEKT OR the Rectified Rite in any way irregular does substantive harm and is actionable. I suspect the backlash from GMs will be a damned angry one. No one likes fraternal lawsuits. However, I also suspect some GMs named in the suit will claim there was no reason for it and that there was an "easy way out" of this situation, even though such easy solutions were never forthcoming. The argument over whether the Rectified Rite charter was irregular should have been fought out internally at the GEKT's next triennial, and not duked out in Grand Lodge offices. Which goes back to the ill-fated decision of the Commission on Recognition even having an opinion on this subject, which made some GMs believe they were required to act on it. No, they weren't, and still they are not. The report was in error and in violation of its own rules. And the Commission only makes recommendations, it has zero power on its own. That makes it eminently ignorable. Now attorneys are involved, and it's going to be damned hard to stuff this one back in the bottle.

And I am expressing my personal opinion, which has nothing to do with my official capacity as editor of the Journal of the Masonic Society, which has taken no position on this controversy, and will not.

Background:
• Freemasons For Dummies: Washington, Oregon and the Grand Encampment
• Freemasons For Dummies: 2011 Report: Commission on Information for Recognition
• Freemasons For Dummies: Grand Priory of the Reformed and Rectified Rite of the USA
• Freemasons For Dummies: Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed & Rectified Rite of the United States of America

My article about Levant Preceptory, Indiana's Masonic Knight Templar medieval period recreation ritual group at Raper Commandery No. 1, appears in the August 2011 issue of the Knight Templar Magazine. Many thanks to editor and Sir Knight John Palmer.

Read it online here.

Levant is planning a trip to confer the Order of the Temple at the Detroit Masonic Center tentatively on March 24th, 2012. The combination of Sir Knights clad in chainmaille, broadswords and helms, on the floor of Detroit Commandery No. 1's exquisite medieval asylum will be the perfect combination. Details coming soon—don't miss it!

My article about Levant Preceptory, Indiana's Masonic Knight Templar medieval period recreation group, appears in the August 2011 issue of the Knight Templar Magazine, which arrived at Hodapphaüs today. Many thanks to editor and Sir Knight John Palmer.

Read it online here.

Levant is planning a trip to confer the Order of the Temple at the Detroit Masonic Center tentatively on March 24th, 2012. The combination of Sir Knights clad in chainmaille, broadswords and helms, on the floor of Detroit Commandery No. 1's exquisite medieval asylum will be the perfect combination. Details coming soon—don't miss it!

This Friday, March 18th is the 697th Anniversary of death of Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ, the Knights Templar. (Some accounts say March 11th. Even the two commemorative plaques at the execution site in Paris have conflicting dates.)

He was born in the eastern French village of Molay in 1244 or 45. Almost nothing is known of his early life, but he joined the Templars at the age of 21, and served 42 years as a warrior monk.

In 1291, the Holy Land fell back into the hands of the infidel, and would never fully return to Christian rule. The Templars and the Knights Hospitallers fell back to the coastal city of Acre, which was quickly lost. Both orders subsequently went to the island of Cyprus. The Templars remained here, while the Hospitallers later took the island of Rhodes. That too would be lost eventually, and the Hospitallers eventually settled in Malta, where they became known as the knights of Malta. In spite of the modern Masonic orders that unite these two orders of knights, they were bitter rivals for the wealth and favor of Europe and the Church.

Jacques de Molay was elected Grand Master in 1293 at the age of 47. Immediately he set off to England, France, Aragon and Italy to drum up support for a new crusade to the Holy Land, as well as to fend off a growing call for merging the two orders of knights. Politiucally, the Templars were regarded as the men who lost the Holy Land, and monarchies were becoming distrustful of them. France in particular was feeling overrun with returning, aging knights, who still were free from any kind of taxation or even civil laws, by virtue of Papal bulls that held the order above anyone but the Pope.

King Phillip IV of France and his personal henchman Guillaume de Nogaret had been in severe conflict with the then-reigning pope, Boniface VIII. The pope had declared that the king of France had no right to tax Church property, and the king had, obviously, disagreed. De Nogaret kidnapped an important French bishop, and the pope had come out swinging over it. He issued a papal bull proclaiming that kings must be subordinate to the Church, and that popes held ultimate authority over both spiritual and temporal matters on earth. To make sure they got the message, Boniface excommunicated Phillip and de Nogaret. Phillip answered his challenge by sending the brutal, devious and bad-tempered de Nogaret at the head of an army to meet up with Italian allies and capture the pope. Boniface was indeed kidnapped and held for three days. After literally being beaten to a pulp, he was released and died a month later. The French king had proved just who was subordinate to whom, and he didn’t mind a little papal blood on his hands. Pope Boniface’s successor, Pope Benedict XI, lasted only a year in office, poisoned, it was said, by de Nogaret.

But there had been diplomatic difficulties to suffer for killing two popes. Consequently, King Phillip decided it would be easier to just buy one. He began procuring cardinals, pulling strings behind the scenes until the number of French cardinals in the Vatican’s College of Cardinals was equal to the Italian ones. They then obligingly elected his handpicked candidate, Bertrand de Goth, making him Pope Clement V. The city of Rome was in turmoil, and the safety of the Vatican was in question. So, it didn’t take much to convince the new French pope that his life would be in serious danger by living there. Clement obliged by staying in France, having his ceremony of investiture in Lyons. He remained in France, eventually moving the Holy See to the city of Avignon (which was actually owned by the King of Sicily at the time) in 1309, right on Phillip’s back door step, where he built a new papal palace. Catholics often refer to it as the “Babylonian Captivity.” Nowadays it’s usually called the Avignon Papacy or the Great Schism.

Clement had everything Phillip wanted in a pope: he was puny, weak, new in the job, and owed everything to his French king. Now was the time for the boldest move of Phillip’s reign – the arrest of the Knights Templar.

Jacques de Molay left Cyprus to head straight for a meeting with the new Pope, and he had high hopes for success, especially since they were countrymen. He couldn’t at this point have known of the dark forces that were assembling against him behind the scenes. In June of 1307, de Molay rode into Paris at the head of a column of his knights, with a dozen horses laden with gold and silver, to begin the financing the new Crusade. For the next several months, Phillip treated the aging Grand Master with interest and diplomacy, and de Molay believed he and the Order were at a new turning point.

The circumstances of the arrests on October 13th, 1307, and seven years of trials of the Templars are well known to most of us, but we are most concerned with the last Grand Master tonight. By 1314, both the pope and public opinion had abandoned the Knights Templar. The four senior Templar officers in Phillip’s custody had been waiting in prison for seven grim years. All of them were old, the youngest being Geoffroi de Charney, who was almost 60. Jacques de Molay was in his 70s, and had spent four years in solitary confinement.

On March 18th, 1314, the four men were finally led onto a platform in front of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral to hear the charges and make their public confessions. The charges were read, and two of the men accepted their fate of perpetual imprisonment and were led away.

But Jacques de Molay, and his trusted follower Geoffroi de Charney, did not follow suit. Weakened with age and imprisonment, de Molay shouted in a voice that startled the assembly that he and the Templars were innocent of all the charges. They were returned to their cells at once, while Phillip called together his council and quickly pronounced sentence, using the insane logic of the Inquisition; if they had recanted their confessions, then they were considered “relapsed heretics,” and the penalty was the stake.

Late that afternoon, de Molay and de Charney were led to the place of execution, which was a tiny isolated island adjacent to the Isle de la Citè, called the Ile-des-Juifs, the “Island of the Jews.” The condemned men could see Notre Dame Cathedral in the east, but the site was not chosen for their view. Rather, it was chosen so that King Phillip could enjoy the entertainment without leaving his palace just across the River Seine.

Each man was stripped down to his shirt and tied to the stake. Jacques de Molay, with unbelievable courage, asked not only that he be turned to face the Cathedral, but that his hands be freed, so that he could die at prayer. His request was granted. The two men were roasted alive by the Inquisitional method that began slowly with hot coals, so that their agony could be prolonged as much as possible.


When the Pont Neuf was built, the Île des Juifs was joined to the rest of the Île de la Cité, and today there are not one but two plaques near the bridge to commemorate this event. According to legend, Jacques de Molay did not go to his God in silence. Instead, he died defiantly shouting his innocence and that of the Templars, calling on King Phillip and Pope Clement to meet him before the throne of God in one year’s time, where they would all be judged together. Creepily enough, both men, relatively young, would be dead within the year. One month after the death of de Molay, Pope Clement V, age 54, died, it was said of cancer. Phillip the Fair, age 46, would die in a hunting accident probably brought on by a stroke. He died on November 29th.

A non-Masonic order of modern Knights Templar claim deMolay appointed a successor to himself secretly, and the order survived the centuries. Masonic Templars make no such claim, but the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem tells the tale that DeMolay’s skull and leg bones were pulled from the ashes and secretly buried with the document of succession, called the Larmenius Charter. Others claim that during the French revolution, as King Louis XVI’s head was chopped off by the guillotine, someone rushed up from the crowd and proclaimed, “Jacques De Molay, Thou art avenged!”

The gruesome death of Jacques de Molay is the last act of the Templar story. At least, the last act of the accepted, scholarly story of the Knights Templar that is told, in names and dates, between the covers of the history books. But in reality, his death is only the beginning. It’s the beginning of the myth of the Knights Templar, which is the maelstrom around which an endless stream of fact blended with speculation swirls, unabated.

(Adapted from The Templar Code For Dummies)

At podium, SK Duane Vaught, GCT, Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Encampment, PGC and MWPGM, begins the ceremony to elevate four Hoosier Sir Knights to the rank and honor of Knight Commander of the Temple for outstanding service to Templary, Freemasonry, or mankind. The honored knights, standing with their ladies, are, from left, Virgil Humphrey, Carson Smith, REGC James L. Dove, and MW Kenneth Willis, Grand Master of Masons of Indiana. Seated is the evening’s master of ceremonies, SK George Ingles, KCT, PGC and Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Indiana, and his lady. [Photo by SK Charles Combi, from the Indiana supplement to the Knights Templar Magazine, March 2011]

I'm still catching up on some stories from last month that fell between the stacks of stuff that clutter my desk like largish cluttering things.

Each year in January, the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar in Indiana celebrates the Newby-Avery Banquet, to raise money for the permanent fund of the Grand Commandery, and to honor Sir Knights who have labored for the benefit of the Order. This past January 8th, the 113th annual banquet was held, with representatives of Indiana's Templars, as well as visiting officers of the Grand Encampment of the USA.

The event is named for the two Indiana Sir Knights who have served as Most Eminent Grand Masters of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, Sir Knight Leonidas Perry Newby (1922-25), and Sir Knight Willard Meredith Avery (1976-79). Sir Knight Avery is still very much alive and turned 104 this month.

The Newby-Avery Fellowship and Chair is a way for Commanderies, Sir Knights, or Ladies of deceased Sir Knights to support the future financial viability of the Grand Commandery of Indiana. Contributions to the Permanent Fund of the Grand Commandery of $250.00 or more receive the designation of a Newby-Avery Fellow, or if donated by a Commandery, a Newby-Avery Chair. All monies are put into the permanent fund and only interest may be withdrawn.

A certificate and a lapel pin or plaque is awarded for the initial $250.00 contribution. Fellows and Chairs are also invited to the annual Newby-Avery Banquet. This year, the Newby-Avery contributions totaled $5,000, including eight new Fellows, and one Newby-Avery Chair sponsored by Kokomo Commandery No. 36.

It is at this banquet that the Grand Encampment of the US bestows a distinguished honor on individual Knights. On behalf of the Grand Encampment, Sir Knight Duane L. Vaught, Right Eminent Grand Generalissimo (and Past Grand Master of Indiana F&AM) presented the honor and title of Knight Commander of the Temple to MW Grand Master Ken E. Willis Jr. (photo), Right Eminent Grand Commander James Dove, Sir Knight Virgil Humphrey and Sir Knight Carson Smith.

Knight Commander of the Temple (abbreviated KCT) is the second highest decoration of the Grand Encampment, and was adopted in the 1991-1994 Triennium.

When conferred, it is explained that it does not mean that your work is done, but that it also stands for the work you are expected to do in future for the Knights Templar, as well.

Heading out tonight for the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, where I'll be speaking at the Pennsylvania Grand Commandery's meeting on Saturday . Then I'll have a day or two to knock around before I have to be in Alexandria, VA for what promises to be a bang up time at Masonic Week.

Stop in at the Masonic Society's hospitality suite or at our table in the dealer's area and say hello.

I will have the honor of speaking to the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Pennsylvania's Division Commander's Seminar, on the Patton Campus of the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, PA, next Saturday night, February 5th, 2011. I'll be driving in Friday evening, so I will have the opportunity to sit in on some of the workshops and tactics meetings, as well.

Thanks to Right Eminent Commander S. Timothy Warco for his kind invitation. Looking forward to meeting fellow Sir Knights!

(I'll be the short guy in the Raper Commandery No. 1 long coat...)

In the mythic sense, the Templars are with us today, if only because many people wish it to be so. Such people include the Freemasons, some branches of which claim descent from the Templars who are said to have survived the persecutions of Philip IV and gone underground, to arise again wearing aprons and carrying trowels, among them such seditious figures as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. The French Revolution was blamed on the Freemasons, who some people with lively imaginations said were really the Templars in disguise. Bringing matters more up to date, the Templars are behind the World Bank, the IMF, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, and also NATO, the European Union, the United Nations and the Skull and Bones Society at Yale.

Read full article »»

Still available everywhere!

The 64th Knights Templar Triennial Conclave has been going on in Roanoke, Virginia this week. Almost 400 Sir Knights gathered at the Hotel Roanoke for drill team competitions, elections and general business meetings. There were 377 voting members representing 47 states and 6 foreign countries.

William H. Koon II has been elected as the Most Eminent Grand Master, Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America. David Godwin has been elected as the Right Eminent Deputy Grand Master, and Indiana's Duane L. Vaught has been elected as the Right Eminent Grand Captain General.

Indiana was well-represented at the Triennial by Grand Commander Larry Brown. In the Class 3 Drill competition, Greenfield Commandery No. 39 took 3rd place, and my own Raper Commandery placed 5th. Commanders Terry Terhune and Carson Smith worked together this year to share drill team members so both commanderies could place teams on the floor. There is talk of working on a battalion-wide level next time to be sure there are A and B teams three years from now, as well. This kind of cooperation could go a long way to keep drill team competition alive, if, for instance, commanderies put together C teams, battalions B teams, and states A teams. Note that there was only one A team at the triennial this year.

Indiana Knights Terry Turner, Phil Whisner and Gary Messer spent Sunday evening touring the hospitality suites in their medieval Levant Preceptory kit, spreading the word about how steel helmets, broadswords and chainmaille are generating new interest in Templars looking for something a little more unusual in their commandery. The reduced interest in drill teams evidenced this year is a barometer that shows new men coming to the door of our asylums aren't wanting to be Templar Knights out of a desire to march in formation. The biggest challenge that faces all of the York Rite bodies is keeping members participating. The York Rite arguably has some of the best written, and most affecting degrees in Masonry. But once the degrees are conferred, we all have to make damn sure there's a reason for men to come back next month. And jamming them into an officer's chair is NOT the way to do it. Unique, entertaining, interesting programming, table meetings, speakers, papers, historical presentations, road trips, cooperation between chapters for degree conferrals—we need to try everything we possibly can.

I spent most of my days hanging out selling and signing books, meeting Knights literally from around the world—Togo, Romania and France were among the countries attending this year.

Toye, Kenning and Spencer had a large vendors' table set up, as they enter the US regalia market. TKS is the world's oldest Masonic regalia manufacturer, and having them in the US at last is a great development. Charles Toye has been working for two years to set up a supply line to America, which will make US shipments much faster (good news for us at Lodge Vitruvian, since they provide our custom aprons). Brother Michael Seay, a regular tour guide at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, is officially TKS' US sales rep. Contact him at mike.seay@toye.com

(Note to Stephen Dafoe: both of your books, Nobly Born and The Compasses and the Cross were flying off Toye's table.)

Many thanks to the brethren who joined The Masonic Society this week. After some conversation with Mark Tabbert and George Seghers of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, we'll have a new development to announce in the coming weeks concerning the Society and the Memorial's digital archiving program.

For photos of the event, Sir Knight John Westervelt of Winchester, Virginia will be putting up an online photo album (check back if it is not up yet). Go to www.seeyourphotos.net , enter as the event "64th Triennial Conclave" and password "20060644"

Our road trip plans have changed a little bit, as we roll through the Virginia countryside in the Dummies Urban Mobile Assault (DUMAss) Command Center. We'll be in Williamsburg and Washington DC the rest of the week, through the weekend.

I was in Canada for the Alberta Masonic Spring Workshop, and I was unable to participate in Levant Preceptory's first opportunity to confer the Templar Order in full medieval garb. I understand it was cold, but it has been described by those who were there as the most incredible experience they have had at a Masonic Templar event.

Sir Knights participated from the following Commanderies from all across Indiana:

Raper No. 1
Baldwin No. 2
Muncie No. 18
Crawfordsville No. 25
Anderson No. 32
Greenfield No. 39
Hammond No. 41
Trinity No. 62
H.E. Lackey No. 67

More info as I get it. But the photo above (click to enlarge) tells a big part of the story.
More photos on Eminent Grand Commander Andrew Jackson's Myspace page.

From a forum posting by Sir Knight Jim Dillman (Prelate, 2nd from left in the photo above):

What an incredible and rewarding day. Talk about running the entire gamut of human emotions- I don't think I managed to skip more than a handful over the course of the day. I got up this morning feeling much as I suspect someone would feel the day after running a marathon. I was both physically and mentally exhausted and I've spent virtually the entire day horizontal. But enough about me.

There are so many people to thank. Let me start with our hosts at the Indiana Masonic Home. CEO (and now also Sir Knight) John Rose, food services manager Steve Treadway, the IMH staff, and the residents who volunteered set a standard for hospitality that very few will ever measure up to. I have never been associated with more accomodating individuals anytime anywhere. It's not difficult to understand why the Indiana Masonic Home is one of the finest facilities of it's kind in the entire country. The feast was simply amazing. I should add that John Rose was the exemplar in the Order of the Temple. He was a good sport about having to wear sandals for two hours in temperatures not far from freezing and I hope his feet have thawed out.

Eminent Grand Commander Andy Jackson and Grand Recorder Larry Kaminsky were with us from the very beginning. They have both provided not only an immense amount of moral support, but have also opened up their wallets to help us along the way. Grand Prelate Ed Sebring has been one of our biggest fans and he dedicated a lot of space in the Indiana Supplement to Templar Magazine to promoting Levant Preceptory. Many other current and past Grand Commandery officers have offered encouragement, advice, and kind words and it has all been very much appreciated. Sir Knight Mike Ritter did a magnificent job handling the RSVP's and registration of candidates.

Special thanks go to Sir Knights George Kivett, John Gray, and Jason Sawin for lending us a hand with the candidates and setting up the conferral of the Order. I wish I could tell you the name of the Sir Knight from Fort Wayne Commandery who saved me a great deal of embarrassment by donating a box of candles. I somehow managed to misplace a new box of candles and didn't realize it until mere minutes before the conferral of the Order was to begin, the discovery of which resulted in several minutes of pure horror. Several other Sir Knights were kind enough to help out with various tasks over the course of the day and I apologize to them for being unable to list them by name. Much of yesterday is still a big blur.

I unfortunately wasn't able to take the time to watch, but I understand that H.E. Lackey Commandery and Fort Wayne Commandery both did an outstanding job of conferring the Illustrious Order of the Red Cross and the Order of Malta respectively. Congratulations to both.

To all of those who braved the nasty weather, including the candidates, thank you very much. I hope you had an enjoyable day in spite of the lousy conditions.

Finally, to all of my fellow members of Levant Preceptory, I can't adequately express in words how proud I am of all of you and how lucky I feel to have been a part of all of this. You invested an enormous amount of time, money, and effort into making yesterday a huge success. To a man, you have all stepped up in one way or another apart from simply playing a part in the conferral of the Order of the Temple. As SK Roger Van Gorden mentioned to me yesterday, considering that this was the first time out for a group that has never worked together before with most of the members doing parts they have never done before, it could not have gone any better. We have a few minor wrinkles to work out, but I thought it was very impressive. I should note that the only time we have had the entire group together at one time was on Friday night at our dress rehearsal. I'm deeply indebted to all of you and you have my undying admiration.

. . . I don't want to get overly caught up in all of the pageantry surrounding Levant Preceptory's conferral of the Order of the Temple. He was quite right to note that the message of the Order should be our primary concern. The Order of the Temple is a decidedly Christian Order, but the message is universal to the point that men of many faiths have taken the vows of the Masonic Knights Templar without compromising their personal religious beliefs. Christians do not hold an exclusive patent on faith, loyalty, charity, sacrifice, truth, or any of the other chivalric virtues inculcated in the Commandery Orders in general and the Order of the Temple in particular. I hope that Levant Preceptory effectively conveyed the message of this beautiful and inspiring Order.

From a message posted by Sir Knight Robert Coleman (dressed as a monk, 3rd from right in the photo):

Yesterday was one of the most profound experiences in Masonry I've ever enjoyed. I'm especially pleased, because Levant Preceptory is our gift to Templary. But I want to point out that what we did yesterday is only a highlight to the profound truths taught to Templar Masons for over a hundred years. The important thing here is taking the message taught in the conferral back to our home commanderies, and impressing this message on our new Sir Knights--a message I think got through loud and clear.

And to echo Sir Knight Smith, I'll give that message whether I'm wearing short coat, long coat or maille coat.