The Trust Reposed

Damn, I'm a busy guy.

Yesterday, we had our Craft Lodge installation of officers. I was part of the Knight Templar Standard Guard that presented the colors! Here's the thing, though: we had a ton of things going on!

In the morning, we had to show up to Tarrant Lodge at 8 AM for breakfast and rehearsal. At 9:20 or so, we presented the colors at Tarrant Lodge, then immediately left and drove straight to the Fort Worth Masonic Temple. There, we presented the colors for the Fort Worth Lodge installation, immediately left the room, changed out of the KT gear, changed into suits, and walked back in to be installed as officers in Fort Worth Lodge. 

I was installed as Senior Deacon (a junior officer). However, I don't remember it. I was so sleep-deprived from panicking about sleeping in, that I don't remember presenting the colors or being installed! This is even funnier to me because I was the captain of the flag detail and did all the talking. 

That being said, I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep, but man, I'm so happy that I'm going to be able to serve my lodge in an official capacity!

Hail, Companion Knights!

Hail Companion Knights - it’s been a while. No huge updates on my part, other than the fact that today, I was initiated into the York Rite Sovereign College (Trinity No. 154), or, "dubbed a [Companion] Knight of York." The ritual was pretty cool, although I wish that some of the audience/officers took it more seriously. The esoteric lecture was wonderful and seemed to me to be very Rosicrucian in nature, which took me by surprise. Unfortunately, that’s as much as I can divulge.

We were blessed by the presence of a little cricket who was hopping about the lodge room, causing officers to try and keep themselves from laughing while doing degree work, which was hilarious. Sadly, someone stomped on him as we were leaving. RIP Companion Knight Jiminy.

I am looking forwards to the next meeting. For degree conferrals, we all wear tuxedos, so I’ll have to get cracking!

Recently, I was informed that I have been invited to the Allied Masonic Degrees. More updates on that as we go!

Destroying the 24-Inch Gauge

It’s been kind of a crazy period of time. Lately, I’ve been really stretching the limits of my 24-inch gauge. I am really enjoying it, but it’s not easy. I love pouring my efforts into all things, especially Masonry, but I definitely need to make sure I take personal time now and then.

I’ve done a less than stellar job of balancing friend groups. There’s more than a few friends who I think about every once in a while and realize, "wow, [X] and I haven’t hung out in a while." I’ve been pretty good about keeping the vast majority of my commitments, but the problem, I feel, now lies in actually arranging those commitments to begin with.

It’s very easy to keep commitments when they’re at lodge. That’s where I’m expected to be, and where I enjoy being. It is a breeze to be there! Having a central location to do stuff makes things very easy. I feel like right now we are also in a huge busy season right now. We’ve had a bunch of raisings and plan on having another one soon, followed by at least one passing, and at least two initiations. There are many brothers in need of instruction, and many ritual parts to be learned.

I feel like I arguably don’t sleep enough. I usually feel like I’m super busy, and that’s why I go to bed so late even though I have to wake up early. That also seems like a ridiculous excuse to try and cover up a severe lack of discipline. Maybe one of these days, I’ll figure it out.

On a more positive note, the Commandery Orders were incredible. This was last month, on the 15th. We had/were a bunch of candidates. I really enjoyed the Order of the Red Cross. The story behind it was really entertaining in both a serious and a light-hearted way. The Order of Malta kind of threw me for a loop, though. It felt like it was super-packed with information that just flew by at astronomical speeds. I will have to sit down with a copy of the ritual and a highlighter in order to properly "unpack" all of that.

I was privileged enough to be the exemplar candidate for the Order of the Temple. I have never experienced anything quite so mind-blowing in terms of ritual. There were parts where I had to keep myself from laughing, parts where I was deeply moved, and parts where my heart was pounding, ready to leap out of my chest in excitement and awe. I once heard the OOT described as "everything you ever thought a Masonic degree would ever be," and I have to say, that’s not wrong. Oddly, I wouldn’t describe it as "life-changing," as I have heard before. This experience profoundly resonated with emotions and convictions that I have held for a while now. There is no course in direction - if anything, there is now only fuel added to the fire in the engine. IN HOC.