by Christopher Hodapp
I realize this blog has been entirely too Indiana-centric in recent months, but nobody tells me anything anymore and I have to pick up news from the tough kids on the street. Still and all, we've had a lot going on here in the Hoosier state on the Masonic front, so I won't apologize for it.
Having said that, the Grand Lodge of Indiana will be holding a Masonic Education Day on Saturday, October 3rd at the Indianapolis Masonic Temple/Indiana Freemasons Hall, from 8:00AM until 5:00PM.
The keynote presentation will be given by Masonic author and sage S. Brent Morris, Ph.D., who will present The Folger Manuscript, an exploration of Robert Benjamin Folger's 1826 encrypted record of Masonic ritual and its significance in Masonic history. If you haven't read his book, Committed to the Flames, co-written with Art DeHoyos, I highly recommend it, as it details the story and significance of this rare surviving document from the earliest days of what became the Scottish Rite in the United States.
The manuscript is written in a unique cipher code, and is an English translation of French Rectified Rite blue lodge degrees of Apprentice, Fellow, Master Mason, plus three more haute grades of Scottish Master, Squire Novice, and Knight Beneficent of the Holy City. Brent's background as a former cryptographer for the National Security Agency has made him uniquely qualified to peer into this seemingly indecipherable collection of shapes and symbols and successfully crack Folger's code.
From the website:
More speakers will be announced soon.
Registration is free, and an optional boxed lunch is available for $20 (Regardless, please register online so organizers can plan accordingly).
The Temple is located in downtown Indianapolis at 525 N. Illinois Street, just south of the Scottish Rite Cathedral's parking lot.
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