Waukegan Lodge #78 AF&AM August 2015

The Master’s Message Time, it flies by for sure. I cant believe we only have a few short months left before the Masonic year is over. We raised our fist Master Mason early on this month, which was exciting. But the most important and fun works lay ahead. We have about 5 other Brothers who will be ready to receive the Master Mason degree as well and very soon. We have a busy rest of the year and I'm counting on each and every one of you to step up to the plate and help us do the good work.

Over the next few weeks we will have degree after degree. Mid September (the 19th to be exact), Waukegan lodge will be having a Blue Lightening where we will have a maximum of 15 new Master Masons raised. After that, we will be having our annual Past Masters Dinner (new location) and after that is Grand Lodge Sessions, then our Annual Meeting and November is Installation. If we can pull it off Waukegan Lodge will have raised between 20 and 25 new Master Masons by years end. That's a lot of light being spread. The Stated meeting in August will be the last and final vote on our updated bylaws, which include several changes, including, dues, fees and structures, results will be in next months

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THE TROWEL News | Education | Schedule

Did you know?

Masonic Publications

Masonic magazines, most people think they are something that are from the past. This is certainly true, however today there a myriad of Masonic magazines available and I'm not talking about MSA Short Talk Bulletins. When it comes to "Print Copies" of Masonic Magazines there is; The Living Stones, The Journal and a few more. When it comes to "digital magazines", there are even more. The Working Tools, is probably the most prominent of these. Each month these magazines are pushed out and contain a ton of great articles.

Check them out!

Waukegan Lodge #78 AF&AM August 2015

issue.

The roof is being fixed on the temple, which has been leaking for the better part of the last 5 years. We are looking into repair options and details will be forth coming.

If you have questions or concerns, as always, you can reach me via email at rjred5@gmail.com or by phone at 714-615-7809.

God Bless,

~Robert Johnson - Worshipful Master

Scholarships

Every year Waukegan Lodge #78 gives out scholarships to those who apply. Over the years we have given out tens-of-thousands of dollars to invest in the future of this great country and our family and friends' education. This year was no different. Waukegan Lodge #78 gave out several $1000.00 scholarships and certificates. Even one of our resident Fellows (Soon to MM) hand delivered the good news. Congrats to our scholarship recipients!

Bro. Conner (on the right) presenting one of the scholarships.and the WM, below, W. Bros. Robert Johnson and Brian Marra of Geneva Lodge ).

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Happenings

The Out-Of-Towners

It's no secret that one of the greatest privileges of becoming a Maser Mason is our ability to travel to different lodges and conversely to have the honor of having those from different jurisdictions or even states or countries in your lodge. Most recently, Waukegan Lodge has received a slew of visiting Brothers. We had WB. Brian Marra from Geneva Lodge in IL, a couple Brothers from Texas, some from Michigan and even a former GL rep from the Philippians (who actually attends fairly often) attend in the last month or so. This should be a big wake up call to those of you who haven't travelled and attended lodges. Provincial Masonry (the mindset of staying within your comfort zone in regards to lodges) is something we should break. Get out there! See other lodges! Watch different degree work! You will enjoy it, I promise.

Waukegan Lodge #78 AF&AM August 2015

What the Hecatomb? by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

The sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle equals the square of the hypotenuse (a² + b² = c²). Sounds simple, doesn't it? Someone just looking at a diagram of the problem can pretty much assume it's true — a "no-brainer," as they say. So, prove it.

Oops... easier said than done, isn't it? That problem confounded scholars for ages until Pythagoras (c. 569 BC - c. 475 BC) became — allegedly — the first to prove it. Today, it still confounds high school geometry students everywhere. Imagine, then, how happy Pythagoras must have been when he finally solved the problem, known today as the Pythagorean Theorem (or, the 47th Problem of Euclid).  Anderson's Constitutions (1723), gives this account:

“The Greater Pythagoras, provided the Author of the 47th Proposition of Euclid's first Book, which, if duly observed, is the Foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil, and military…” and in the Third Degree lecture: “This wise philosopher (Pythagoras) enriched his mind abundantly in a general knowledge of things, and more especially in Geometry, or Masonry. On this subject he drew out many problems and theorems, and, among the most distinguished, he erected this, when, in the joy of his heart, he exclaimed Eureka, in the Greek language signifying, "I have found it," and upon the discovery of which he is said to have sacrificed a hecatomb. It teaches Masons to be general lovers of the arts and sciences.”

Let's leave the actual proof to geometricians while concentrating on another problem: he sacrificed a... what the heck is a hecatomb?

Hecatomb: it's not a word you hear in everyday conversation and, in fact, I had never heard it before I witnessed a Third Degree lecture.  In context, I assumed it to be some kind of animal. After all, Pythagoras sacrificed it. "Maybe," I thought, "it's a mammal... now extinct... perhaps something resembling a wild boar, only the size of a rhinoceros... yeah, that's it... a wild hecatomb."

Not even close. Animal sacrifice to the gods was a common practice in ancient Greece.  On occasion, the ceremony took on a much more auspicious meaning to the point it required a major statement.  In these cases the Greeks sacrificed as many as a hundred animals, usually cattle, and generally followed with a feast. The sacrifice and feast was a hecatomb.

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Waukegan Lodge #78 AF&AM August 2015

In The Iliad, Homer describes a hecatomb as follows: [455] ...When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads of the victims and killed and flayed them.[460] They cut out the thigh-bones... and then Chryses laid them on the wood fire....When the thigh-bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats, [465] they cut the rest up small,put the pieces upon the spits, roasted them till they were done ...and the feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, [470] ...all day long the young men worshipped the god with song, hymning him and chanting the joyous paean, and the god took pleasure in their voices;

The hecatomb's history is elusive. There remain only a few documented instances of such ceremonies, according to Sandrine Huber, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University ofLorraine in France.  "The landscape of the Greek Hecatombs," she says, "is a religious and civic landscape, in some cases of Panhellenic importance. [It involves] numerous and simultaneous sacrificial animals... It is... a soundscape, an olfactive landscape and finally a gustative landscape." In other words, it's noisy and smelly but can result in one heck(atomb) of a big barbeque. Proving the theorem that today bears his name was a big deal to Pythagoras; and so was his reaction to it. He sacrificed a hecatomb

Lodge Happenings

Waukegan #78 August 17th -Stated Meeting

August 24th -3rd Degree

August 31st - 3rd Degree

September 7th - 3rd Degree

September 14th - 2nd Degree

September 19th - Blue Lightening

September 21st -Stated Meeting September 26th - Past Masters Dinner

September 28th. - 1st Degree

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*Just a note, the schedule is dependent on the return of catechisms. We will post updates to the schedule as needed on our website as

well as weekly announcements through

our call ’em all phone system.

www.waukegan78.com - Waukegan Lodge #78

www.1stneil.com - 1st NE District Calendar