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Liminal

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There’s something inherently ethereal, and indeed a bit eerie, about liminal places. Areas of transition—from light to dark, from east to west, from civilization to wilderness—have fascinated every human culture. America is no exception, given our national obsession with “the frontier,” wherever that happens to be in a given generation. Crossroads and doorways, graveyards and twilight, all thrill us with their ambiguity, their in-betweenness. Unseen things, things just beyond the veil, seem that much closer, that much realer. And October is basically one big liminal space. Autumn proves perhaps the most dramatic of the seasons, replete with pungent aromas: spices and woodsmoke and decaying vegetation. Leaves erupt in one last great riot of color before they wither and fall. In comes the harvest, transitioning from summer’s plenty into winter’s scarcity. The winds shift, heralding the frost and ice that, while not yet arrived, are now well and truly on their way. The days grow shorter; ...
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Grand Commandery visit with U of M's Dr. Steffi Daniel

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Knights Templar Eye Foundation Starter Grant Awarded for Pioneering Research into Juvenile Open- Angle Glaucoma MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — On Tuesday, September 9, 2026, state officers of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Minnesota had the distinct honor and pleasure of visiting Steffi Daniel, PhD, at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Daniel is a distinguished recipient of the competitive Knights Templar Eye Foundation (KTEF) Starter Grant, awarded in support of her groundbreaking ophthalmic research. Dr. Daniel’s grant-funded project, titled “Therapeutic targeting of fibulin-3 driven trabecular meshwork dysfunction in juvenile open-angle glaucoma,” focuses on uncovering molecular mechanisms and developing innovative targeted therapies for pediatric and juvenile glaucoma. Juvenile open-angle glaucoma is a rare and aggressive form of glaucoma that can cause early and severe vision loss in children and young adults. Dr. Daniel’s research aims to restore healthy outflow pathways in the ...
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Book Summary - Born in Blood: the Lost Secrets of Freemasonry

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'Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry' by John J. Robinson In the book Born in Blood The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson, the Knights Templar didn't directly become Freemasons, but their legacy shaped the craft through a wild and violent chain of events. The Templars, founded in 1119, were warrior-monks protecting Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem. By the 1300s, they were controlling vast wealth from banking and trade. King Philip IV of France, drowning in debt to them, saw a chance to seize their assets. In 1307, he convinced Pope Clement V to accuse the Templars of heresy - spitting on the cross, worshipping idols, even sodomy. Grand Master Jacques de Molay was and many other Templars were arrested Friday October 13th, 1307 and he was burned at the stake March 18th, 1314, and the order was crushed. The book argues many Templars survived the purge, going underground to avoid execution. He claims they fled to places like Scotland, blending into local...
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The Classics

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My high-school curriculum did not require Latin in order to graduate—I’m not quite so old as that—but I am old enough that it offered Latin as an elective. To be honest, it was an easy A, especially as I’d already taken a few semesters of Spanish, itself a Latin derivative. With its low level of stress and heavy dosage of Roman history, Latin class soon became a favorite of mine. We even took a bus-trip to Broadway, in order to see A Funny Things Happened on the Way to the Forum, which tickles me to this day. I try to watch the DVD on every Saturnalia. This youthful dalliance with the Classics continued into my undergraduate matriculation [the formal process of enrolling and admittance as a student at college or university], where I signed up for further Latin courses, a minor focusing on Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and even a few graduate-level Imperial Roman history classes. I met one of my best friends there; upon graduation, we were invited to join an international ...
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History of the Crusades of the Knights Templar

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The Knights Templar formally the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ of the Temple of Solomon played a significant military role in the Crusades, a series of religious wars initiated by Western European Christians primarily between 1095 and 1291. These campaigns aimed to recapture Jerusalem and other holy sites in the Levant from Muslim control, while also defending Christian pilgrims and the Crusader states established after the First Crusade. Levant is French for rising sun in the east Mediterranean. Now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria. Home of Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam or Mohammedism. The phrasing "drive back the encroachment of the Muslims" reflects a perspective common in medieval Christian sources and some modern interpretations: viewing Muslim expansion particularly by the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia and ongoing control of formerly Christian territories in the Middle East as an existential threat to Christendom that needed to be reversed or contained ...
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Arthuriad Recomendation

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This month, I’d like to make a book recommendation. Consider it a home-stretch supplement to your summer reading list. I’ve known of Malcolm Guite (pronounced like “kite”) for some years now. An Anglican priest and poet, he’s been the featured speaker for the Canadian Rockies Theological Conference, which several of my Order—the Society of the Holy Trinity—have attended and enjoyed. I own some of his books of liturgical poetry, and often share his sonnets online, especially for Michaelmas. This year saw the release of the Rev’d Guite’s magnum opus, an Arthuriad entitled Merlin’s Isle. Rabbit Room Press published the first of its four volumes, Galahad and the Grail, in April, with a second tome, The Coming of Arthur, due out in November. The action starts in media res, with the arrival of the Grail Knight, the achievement of the Holy Grail, and the subsequent healing of the Fisher-King and his Wasteland kingdom. Rev’d Guite retells the tale in epic English ballad form, which he requests...
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A Slice of Heaven

Reflections from the 2026 Minnesota Grand York Rite Session Some weekends are measured by motions passed, officers elected, and gavels sounded. Others are measured by handshakes renewed, laughter shared in hotel hallways, conversations that seem to pick up exactly where they left off a year ago, and quiet reminders of why we first knocked at the West Gate. The 2026 Minnesota Grand York Rite Session was decidedly the latter. My journey began Wednesday evening as I arrived in St. Cloud. The hotel had not yet awakened to the energy that would soon fill its halls. After checking into my room, I called home to say goodnight to my family. As has become our tradition whenever I'm away, they insisted on a video tour of my hotel room before bedtime. Afterward I ventured around the corner for dinner, returned to my room, and settled in for the night, looking forward to what the coming days would bring. Thursday morning began simply enough with a few cups of coffee from the in room Keurig, br...
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