​In February, members of our Grand Lodge attended the annual Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America (COGMMNA). This year, the conference was held in chilly Rapid City, South Dakota.  And although not exactly a garden spot this time of the year, the South Dakota Masons were well organized and did a wonderful job as conference hosts.

The COGMMNA is targeted to all Grand Masters, Grand Secretaries, Deputy Grand Masters, and Senior and Junior Wardens throughout North America.  There were seats around the table for US, Canadian, and Mexican Grand Masters - all of whom are the only voting members of the Conference.  The primary purpose of the three-day event is to share best practices, exchange ideas, discuss the many challenges facing Freemasonry, and to develop contacts throughout the world that enable our Grand Jurisdiction in Washington, DC to be better positioned to serve our Lodges.

There is also much business conducted, and the Grand Secretaries conduct their own separate, simultaneous conference.  The business of the conference includes a Commission on Recognition that receives information from international Grand Lodges who seek recognition.  This committee reviews the required information and then offers guidance on whether the requesting Grand Lodge meets the standards for Recognition.  Whether or not individual Grand Jurisdictions decide to act on offering recognition is up to the respective Grand Lodges, and the Commission acts in an advisory capacity only. 

There are also national meetings for the Masonic Renewal Committee, the National Sojourners, Scottish Rite (Northern and Southern Jurisdictions) Masonic Chip International, the George Washington National Masonic Memorial, and the National Masonic Foundation for Children (NMFC). There are also separate programs for the Ladies and Significant Others that deal with the challenges of providing leadership and support during their time as part of the Grand Lodge.  Additionally, they had their own Keynote Speaker at a luncheon.

There are numerous separate break-out sessions that group the officers by position.  The Deputy Grand Masters, for example, had multiple sessions on leadership topics.  The Wardens did the same thing, but with different topics.  Each year, the Conference planners respond to surveys from the previous year's conference, and set up the sessions accordingly.  Recent topics include:

- Leadership challenges for Deputy Grand Masters
- Prepare for the East NOW (for Wardens)
- Retention challenges for Masonic Lodges
- Physical security of Lodge buildings
- "Guarding the West Gate" best practices
- The development and practices of Traditional Observance Lodges
- Best practices for dealing with transgender issues
- Training and mentoring ideas for new Freemasons
- How do deal with real estate and building issues
- Charitable foundations and best practices

There is also a Keynote Speaker.  This year it was Sergeant First Class (retired) and Brother Sammy L. Davis, 33d Degree, who received two Purple Hearts, the Silver Star, and the Medal of Honor for his service in Vietnam. His testimony and video were very moving, and his comparison about the love which binds both military service and Freemasonry was particularly riveting.

As part of the experience, the Masons of South Dakota arranged a bus tour on the day before the start of the conference.  For those who arrived early, they took us to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument.  They did an excellent job.  On the Birthday of George Washington, they also hosted a dinner at the base of Mount Rushmore.  Even though it was -3 (!!!) degrees outside, the company and speaker (General Washington himself) was very warm.  

Our delegation to the 2019 COGMMNA included PGMs Leonard Proden, Akram Elias, and Richard Bautista, who were there for some of the business and committee meetings.  

The 2020 COGMMNA will be held in Louisville, KY next February.

​Beyond the Five Senses of Human Nature, there is what some call that Sixth Sense, which is beyond explanation or concrete evidence in real life experience.   A vast horizon of spiritual activities may be laid open to the inquisitive mind and to those who are seeking self-improvement in order to satisfy their thirst for knowledge in the Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Here these seekers may quench their thirst from a well of infinite and voluptuous ecstasy.  Here, perhaps, is the dwelling place, indeed the Ursprung, or origin, of music.   

In Freemasonry, we are familiar with music as one of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Pythagoras, our ancient Friend and Brother, is known for the “Music of the Spheres.”  The Masonic philosopher Albert Pike, writing in Morals and Dogma, notes in his mystical way that in “the Kabala [sic], the last Seven Sephiroth constituted ATIK YOMIN, the Ancient of Days; and these . . .  correspond with . . . the Seven notes of the musical octave.”  (Lecture on the “Knight of the Sun” Degree, p. 727, classic edition)

There is a nexus between music and mathematics, and -- as a mathematician -- I know that the human ear responds logarithmically to sound in general. Yet music can resonate better in sublayers of sound and integrate more smoothly with the components that relate these signals to the body. Music motivates the dormant strings of the brain to bring forth energy to the entire system of the universe, as well as to the individual soul.

Perhaps for this reason, music is used in diverse applications in life as a balsamic treatment.  It improves the health the patient and speeds his recovery in the hospital. It brings sleeps to those with insomnia and quiets the nerves from tension. It helps infants into a pleasant sleep and nice dreams. It spreads joy to the listener and relieves the burdened heart. It disseminates happiness and eliminates tension.

Music is one of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences that Masons are encouraged to use in order to develop their faculties and enhance their knowledge in practical life. Accordingly, music is highly encouraged to be played in Lodges and major ceremonial events in order to make them more successful and render their performances more solemn. Would one notice the difference between a march or procession with and then without music? Would one feel that its treble is pounding on one’s heart and hugging one’s spirit? It is perhaps no accident that some of the world’s greatest composers – Haydn, Mozart, Liszt, Sibelius, and Sousa – were attracted to join the fraternity and -- in many cases -- write music for ceremonial Masonic purposes.

Yet even the greatest music in the world – like our Gentle Craft itself – is but a gateway into the Eternal, a sublime intimation of that “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1)

​In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, made their inaugural state visit to the United States. The four-day visit included an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, meetings with President Eisenhower and Vice-President Nixon in Washington, a visit to the British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, and a college football game in Maryland (vs. North Carolina). And as the whirlwind tour drew to a close, the Queen accepted an invitation to assist in the laying of a cornerstone for the British embassy’s new extension. That singular event was a remarkable moment in the history of the District, and especially for DC Freemasons, as for a brief moment in time, the Queen of England laid a cornerstone using the same masonic implements first employed by President George Washington.

It all started on October 18, 1957, when Ray Baker Harris, the Grand Master of Masons of D.C., received a phone call from the British Embassy requesting the use of the George Washington Gavel for a cornerstone event scheduled the following afternoon. The Gavel was first used by its namesake in 1793 to lay the cornerstone of the United States Capitol. Washington gifted the implements used during the cornerstone ceremony to the Masters of participating lodges. The gavel, in particular, was given to Valentine Reintzel, who served as Master of Potomac (then working under their Maryland charter as Lodge No. 9). When Reintzel died in 1817, the gavel returned to Potomac and was subsequently passed down to each Master. Over the following years, it has participated in several notable cornerstone ceremonies for important DC buildings, including the Smithsonian Institution, Washington Monument, and the National Cathedral.

​Harris, being a Past Master of Potomac, knew that the Gavel could only be removed from its place of deposit by vote and consent of the Lodge. He contacted their then Master, R. Lawrence Tilley, and requested to convene a special communication for the purpose of voting on the Queen’s request. The Lodge convened one hour later and appointed Tilley, the Senior Warden Evart Warren, and Past Grand Master Renah F. Camalier to the escort committee.
 
The following day, the members of the committee escorted the historic relic to the British embassy. It was placed on display with other ceremonial implements including a silver trowel shipped from England for the purpose of laying the stone. After a brief prayer and remarks from Reverend Angus Dun, the Bishop of Washington, the British Ambassador to the United States, Harold Caccia, inspected the stone and set it into position. The Queen then took possession of the Gavel and proceeded to tap the four corners of the foundation stone to formally set the stone in place. (The Queen took great interest in the Gavel, inspecting it briefly and taking a moment to read the inscription placed on the gold cap, before returning it to its case.) 

​While the ceremony lasted a mere twenty minutes, it was a remarkable moment in the history of Freemasonry and the District of Columbia. In 1793, George Washington served as the fledgling nation’s first President after a long struggle against monarchical rule. One hundred and sixty-four years later, a descendant of King George III’s wielded Washington’s masonic implement to perform a cornerstone ceremony of her own and help build an edifice dedicated to the mutual cooperation of both countries, once bitter enemies and now the closest of allies.