Templar Edification

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...

An old memory recently came to mind at our Summer Bible Study on miracles. Forgive me if you’ve heard me tell it to you before. The summer after seventh grade, my family moved. The basement of our new house had yet to be finished, so we stored a lot of the boxes that we hadn’t yet gotten through down below, including quite a few packed-up books. Alas, when autumn came around, we learned that our fresh, clean, concrete basement had been built over a seasonal spring, and the whole thing flooded. We came home on the evening of my birthday to find three feet of standing water working its way up the stairs. My mother waded waist-high through the deluge, taking stock of the damage, when, looking down, she spotted something yellow and rectangular on the bottom. She reached underneath, soaking her entire arm, pulled the object up, and immediately grew pale. Our home congregation, which I’d attended ever since my birth and baptism, used bright yellow Good News Bibles for Sunday School and Youth...

By: Companion Eric Thiem In the Select Master Degree, we are informed of items of significance that are placed in the Ark of the Covenant to be discovered by future generations on their return from Babylon; or in the case of York Rite Masonry to be discovered previously in the Royal Arch Degree. One of those items to be placed in the Ark is an omer of Manna. Doing research; one finds that an omer was an ancient unit of measurement, which is one tenth of an ephah, roughly equivalent to 1.5 to 2 quarts worth. Another definition is the amount of manna it would take to feed one over a period of time, roughly seven weeks or the time between Passover and Shavuot (1) . The Old Testament describes manna as being a fine flake like bread that tasted like wafers that were made with honey. In Exodus 16:19-20, Moses instructs the Israelites not to keep the manna more than a day and when the Israelites disobeyed Moses and kept it and they discovered the manna to be full of maggots and have a pungent...

The Society of the Holy Trinity (STS) is a pan-Lutheran Order dedicated to helping pastors to fulfill our ordination vows. We gather, pray, learn, eat, celebrate, and worship together, through both the Liturgy of the Hours (i.e., offices of prayer at regular hours of the day) and the Divine Liturgy of Word and Sacrament. We hold these retreats quarterly, with our local Chapters each assembling three times a year, and the General Retreat of the entire Society convening annually. For over a decade, our General Retreat took place at Mundelein Seminary outside of Chicago, a lovely spot reminiscent of Narnia. This summer, however, will be our first at Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana. I had to look up the legend of St Meinrad. As the story goes, Meinrad of Einsiedeln was a ninth-century Benedictine priestmonk in modern Switzerland, known ever after as the “Martyr of Hospitality.” He established a hermitage on the slopes of the Etzel Pass, only then to move deeper into the wilderness due t...

By: Eric Thiem In April’s education on the history of Cryptic Council, a small portion of the article mentioned degrees that were initiated in a Council of Cryptic Masons that were no longer performed. One of those, the Knights of the Round Table was discussed in detail and presented in the August 2025 Beauseant and Buckler. I decided to delve into another of the “Dead Degrees,” the Order of the Garter and determine if I could uncover the history of this degree. A garter is a functional piece, or band of clothing of an elastic nature designed to hold up another piece of clothing, usually a stocking or a shirt sleeve (1) . They were typically tied to the stocking just below the knee. With advances in modern clothing, they have lost their use as a functional piece of clothing. The history of a garter being a functional piece of clothing dates back to at least the Middle Ages, if not earlier. For most of history, they have been associated with a bridal tradition; symbolizing luck at the c...

I saw a post online the other day, which claimed that 49% of Minnesotans—less than half—say that they believe in God. Now, I don’t put much weight behind such polls, however they gather their data. I remember reading recently that 30% of self-identified atheists also affirm that they believe in God. Try to make that one make sense. But the very notion of “believing in God” is something of a category error, a confusion of terms. Most people who deny belief in God are thinking of a god; that is, of a powerful yet limited supernatural or spiritual creature of some sort, akin to what Jews and Christians might call angels, or even fae. Yet God is not a god. God, in the classical sense—as understood by the great monotheisms, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Baháʼí, Zoroastrians, Platonists, and, I would argue, certain strains of Buddhism—is not a part of Creation, not a being within the universe, not even properly an object of belief; because God is not an object, not a th...

Years ago, I saw a little miracle. After a funeral, in the bleak midwinter, we set out to the cemetery for a graveside committal. The wind whipped up something wicked, lashing at our coats and scouring any exposed flesh. The air temperature, without windchill, had plunged into the negative 20s. The family proved reluctant to get out of their cars, but soldiered on, following my lead. You should’ve seen the grimaces on the faces of the men when I took off my hat to pray, knowing that they ought to follow suit. Not that I could blame them. Have pity on the bald. Graveside committals typically don’t take terribly long. If one follows the Occasional Services book, we’re only out there for five to 10 minutes. At one point, the officiant—that would be me—pours out a cylinder of sand, the symbolic first handful of grave dirt, whilst intoning, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Given that we were standing exposed in what felt like a wind-tunnel, I fully expected the sand, fine and...

The history or Cryptic Council has its formal origins in the American Colonies, shortly after winning independence from Great Britain. Cryptic Council at its inception was originally part of the York Rite Chapter Lodges. The Royal Master and Select Master degrees were part of Chapter prior to Cryptic Council separating from York Rite Chapter. The Chronological order of the Council degrees had the Royal Master Degree was conferred just prior to receiving the sublime Royal Arch Degree. The Select Master degree was conferred shortly after receiving the Royal Arch Degree. It is thought that the Royal and Select Master Degrees originated in France in the first half of the 18th century. The Royal and Select Master degrees were known as travelling degrees throughout the Eastern United States in the late 1700’s and 1800’s and were conferred on special occasions similar to how we  in Minnesota and in many other states confer the Super Excellent degree today. Council was split off from Royal...

During the closing in the Select Master Degree, we are introduced to a person by the name of Giblim. We learn that he and twenty one others are from a place known as Gebal. Gebal was a city in ancient Phoenicia. The city of Gebal was located on the Mediterranean coast on what are now the foothills of Southern Lebanon. It was located 26 Miles north of modern day Beirut. The name Gebal translates into “Mountain of God.” The city of Gebal was known to the ancient Greeks as “Byblos.” Byblos was known in Grecian times for its extensive trade and facilitation of moving papyrus between Egypt and Greece. Byblos was also known as playing a pivotal role in the dissemination of written information in the ancient world 1 . The word Bible derives from this Greek name. The city of Gebal was thought to be founded around 8800 BC, making it one of the first and oldest continuously occupied cities in recorded history of the world. For the first few thousand years, Gebal was originally a dependency of Eg...

In the nineteenth century, two young Irish lads digging in a potato field discovered, beneath a slab of stone, literal buried treasure from over a thousand years before. This remarkable collection became known as the Ardagh Hoard, currently on display at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. And the most famous piece of the hoard remains the Ardagh Chalice. The chalice is a large, two-handed Eucharistic cup, crafted of beaten silver with decorations of gold, bronze, brass, pewter, and enamel; composed of over 350 pieces, all told. While fashioned in a late Roman style, its construction proves unmistakably Irish. Remarkably, its most striking feature—a prominent polished crystal surrounded by a gilt disc and blue jewels—lies hidden away on the chalice’s underside, beneath the foot, such that only the priest elevating the cup during the Divine Liturgy would see it. I take this as a reminder, not to the congregation but to the officiant, of the true concealed treasure of the chalice: ...

Compiled by SK Ray Hayward, REPGC 2012-2013 1. All commanderies used to be known as encampments. 2. The name of the famous High Priest of Egypt, Imhotep, means “He who comes in Peace.” 3. Knights Templar used to wear aprons. They were triangular and had a metal skull and crossbones on it. When that was phased out, the whole uniform became the apron. 4. The first person knighted as Masonic Knights Templar in the Colonies was Capt. William Davis, August 1769, followed by Paul Revere, December 1769, and Joseph Warren, May 1770. 5. Knights Templar originally carried daggers in addition to their swords. These were hung at the end of the baldric. 6. Minnesota produced one Grandmaster of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar, Charles N. Orr. 1943-1946. ATC Pierson served as Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Encampment. 7. Knights Templar vote yes with their sword arm, their right, and no with their bridle arm, their left. 8. Our swords reflect alchemical refinement and transmutation. We go f...

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently shared a piece of advice that, at first glance, sounds almost too simple: stop using motivation as your only fuel. He’s right. Motivation feels incredible when it’s there. It gives you that surge of energy at the beginning of a new year, a new diet, a new project, a new commitment. But motivation is short-term fuel. It burns hot, then it burns out. That is why so many people begin strong and never finish. They weren’t lazy. They just built everything on a fuel source that was never meant to last. Routine is different. Routine is what carries you when the excitement is gone. It is what gets you moving on the days when you do not feel inspired, optimistic, or emotionally ready. A routine is built by showing up repeatedly, especially when you do not want to. You drag yourself through enough low-motivation days, and eventually the thing becomes part of your life rather than a dramatic decision you keep having to remake. Where I think this conversation often g...

Years ago, I read a Buddhist parable—as recounted in Lafcadio Hearn’s famous collection Kwaidan—wherein a Bodhisattva leads a young man up a mighty misty mountain, that he might have a vision of the sacred at the peak. The way is rough and rude, the vapors thick, such that he cannot see the ground beneath his feet. He treads upon round and rolling stones, which cause him to stumble, sometimes bursting underfoot. Drawing near the summit as the dawn begins to break, with the fog now burning away, the young man realizes, to his horror, that the mountain upon which he stands is in fact an unfathomably vast heap of human skulls. “Do not fear,” the Bodhisattva cries, “for all of them are your own!” This grisly image understandably stuck with me. In context, it refers to the Buddhist belief in reincarnation, a nigh-endless series of lifetimes culminating at long last in Enlightenment. The young man has lived countless lives, that he might now glimpse a vision of divine eternal Truth. Christia...

Let me first start out this article by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! As you are all aware we are early in January of the year 2026. It is typically a time for doing reflections on the previous year, what we did right, what we did wrong, things that worked as well as things that may not have gone according to plan and reflecting upon all the good times that we had with loved ones, friends, brothers and companions. The start of the New Year is when the majority of individuals look forward to turning the page and creating new ideas, plans or resolutions to improve their lives or achieve specific goals. The tradition of observing and celebrating the New Year goes back well over four thousand years originating with the Babylonians. Their new year (Akitu) began with the new moon after the vernal equinox (1) . Other cultures celebrated the New Year at various times throughout the solar cycle. For Egyptians and the Phoenicians, the New Year began with the autumnal equinox (September 21) (...

The Winter Solstice is that period in the year when the Sun is in the farthest position south to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. We usually associate the Winter Solstice with December 21st ; however the dates of the Winter Solstice occur from between December 20th and December 22nd , depending on the year. The Winter Solstice marks the beginning of meteorological winter which lasts until the vernal equinox. The sun is positioned at 23 ½ degrees south of the equator or the Tropic of Capricorn. The North Pole is therefore positioned 23 ½ degrees away from the sun. The Winter Solstice has historically been considered a period of rebirth. The term solstice derives from the word “solstitium” [Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 9:03 AM cst) which translates into “sun stands still.” The Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere was historically a time when animals were slaughtered for fresh meat and the time when fermented beer and wine were ready for consumption. In Stonehenge one can catch the run...

One of my favorite subgenres of historical holidays is “holidays that tried to replace other holidays and failed.” The Anglican Church, for example, instituted the festival of Harvest Home at the autumnal equinox in order to displace Michaelmas, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, because they considered the latter to be too Catholic. This effort failed. The people still celebrated Michaelmas on 29 September. But they didn’t reject Harvest Home either. Instead, they simply welcomed both. I consider this a win-win scenario. Growing up in Pennsylvania, Harvest Home wasn’t a huge deal, but our congregation faithfully observed it, and I rather enjoyed that we did. Another example would be Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, celebrated in the UK. Initially the Protestant hierarchy suppressed the Allhallowtide (Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls) again because it reeked a bit of Rome. Bonfire Night, on 5 November, commemorated the collapse of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament. I...

In the Royal and Select Masters Degrees we are introduced to Ahishar and Adoniram and their roles in teaching us the lessons that these two degrees have to offer. In the Royal Master degree we are introduced to Adoniram and the role he plays in teaching us about the death of Hiram Abiff and the Master’s word being lost. It is believed among individuals who are not Masons that Adoniram and Hiram Abiff are one in the same. Adoniram was a high ranking official in King Solomon’s court. He was responsible for overseeing the collection of taxes throughout Israel, a portion of which went into the building of King Solomon’s Temple. He was also responsible for and oversaw the labor force in the construction of the Temple. Adoniram was also responsible for acquiring and getting the resources needed for the Creation of the Temple to the Temple Mount. Adoniram is described in the Talmud as having great wisdom and dedication. He was the principal tax collector of Israel under King Solomon. He was a...

In York Rite Masonry, we are introduced to the presence of Cherubim and their importance to our Masonic Ritual. The part of Masonic Ritual where the presence of Cherubim is most prominent is when we do the circumambulations in the Royal Master Degree where the Cherubim (if enough members are present) greet the candidate and the Conductor of the Council as they make their way around the Council. The first mention of Cherubim in York Rite Masonry is during the Super Excellent Master Degree during the dedication of the Temple after the Keystone is lowered into place. The Ark is placed into the completed Temple and upon the Ark are Cherubim indicating the presence of God. When we do the opening of the Royal Arch Degree, the Captain of the Host mentions the Masters of the Veils are guards of the Veils. He mentions that on the veils are representative of the four tribes of Israel, Judah, Ephraim, Ruben and Dan an on each banner is delineated a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle. This is the are...