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MY FATHER THE MASON
My father, Clifford Ernest DuQuette, died 35 years ago. He was only 61 years old. He was a Freemason and always hoped I would join him in the Craft. I finally did, but only many years after he passed away.
In my book, "The Key to Solomon's Key"
http://www.amazon.com/Key-Solomons-Secrets-Magic-Masonry/dp/1888729147
I devote a short chapter to my father and his Masonic mystique. I thought you might enjoy it this Father's Day.
Excerpt from Chapter One The Key to Solomon's Key: Secrets of Magick and Masonry I CONFESS – I AM A FREEMASON Masonry is a progressive moral science, divided into different degrees; and, as its principles and mystic ceremonies are regularly developed and illustrated, it is intended and hoped that they will make a deep and lasting impression upon your mind. ~ From The Fellow Craft Degree Free & Accepted Masons (California) I am a Freemason. In 1998, at the age of fifty, I was raised in the same lodge that raised my father fifty years earlier. Masonry claims to make good men better, and although my father had many shortcomings, when all is said and done he was the most noble and ethical man I have ever known. His morality, as much as I observed, was almost entirely self-imposed. He was not a religious man (confessing only that he believed in a Supreme Being), but he was good for goodness' sake; not in obedience to divine commandments; not out of fear of some deity. He was extremely proud to be a Mason and, although he didn't remain an active member of his lodge, he always wore his Blue Lodge and Scottish Riterings and kept his dues scrupulously up-to-date. When I was a child, he enjoyed teasing me about the secret nature of the Craft and would rattle off his titles; Secret Master, Perfect Master, Elu of the Twelve, Prince of Jerusalem, Knight Rose Croix, Knight of the Brazen Serpent, Master of the Royal Secret. Master of the Royal Secret – That sounded interesting. I had to ask, "What's the Royal Secret?" "I can't tell you. It's a secret." "Please?" "No" "Did you tell Mom?" "No. I can never tell your mother."
I liked that idea. We both laughed, and I felt like I was already sharing a Masonic secret. Once when I was about five, he showed me his lambskin apron. He put it on, carefully centering the knot in front so it was concealed by the apron's triangular flap. He gently smoothed it down with both hands, stood at attention and recited from memory; "A lambskin apron. It is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason; more ancient than the Golden Fleece or the Roman Eagle; more honorable than the Star and Garter, or any distinction that could be conferred upon me, at that or any future period by King, Prince, Potentate, or any other person, and which it was hoped that I would wear with pleasure to myself and honor to the Fraternity." I was very impressed. He then smiled and made the most curious announcement, "The next time you see me wearing this apron I'll be dead and lying in a casket at my funeral." Those were strange words, and a little hard for a five year old to hear. But Dad was a pretty strange guy. He was right. The next time I saw him in his Masonic apron was at his funeral less than twenty years later. He lived long enough to see my son born, but not long enough to see me become a Mason. We never became Brothers. We never had the opportunity to discuss the Royal Secret. A snafu of some sort prevented his lodge brothers from showing up at the funeral to give him the fraternal send off. We were assured a few days later by the Master that the oversight caused 'heads to roll' down at the lodge. Twenty-six years later, when I finally became a Mason, I was appointed Chaplain of that same lodge. One of my first official acts was to arrange a proper Masonic graveside service. I have to confess I knew quite a lot about the Craft before I joined. For the previous quarter-century I had enmeshed myself in the studies, practices and intrigues of several initiatory orders and magical societies. Because many of the founders of these esoteric groups were Freemasons I took it upon myself to become familiar with the history, doctrines and rituals of the Craft, especially those of the York and Scottish Rites. I learned many other very interesting things along the way as well. By the time I finally joined I wasn't seeking the same sort of esoteric titillation that spiced my initiatory adventures in these other more secret secret societies. I knew from the beginning that I was entering an organization of mostly elderly men with whom I would have little in common except the bonds of fidelity that for centuries have united the fraternity – men who, if they really got to know me, would most likely consider my interests too strange, my studies too occult, my politics too liberal, my morals too permissive, my writings too weird, and my spiritual world-view downright heretical – men who, like my father, choose not to delve too deeply into mysteries that lie beneath the symbols and ceremonies that they and those that came before them so dutifully preserved. My expectations were low, and so I wasn't at all disappointed. I was welcomed into a lodge that boasted nearly a thousand members whose average age was seventy-two – a lodge whose tiny library contained only a handful of books relating to the esoteric foundations of Masonry, few of which, according to the sign-out sheet, had ever been checked out. It didn't really bother me. As a matter of fact, it felt kind of good. For the first time in many years I was the youngster in a group. I quickly grew to love my new brothers and enjoy their company. I came to the comfortable realization that (no matter what else Masonry might be) it was a very big tent, and that if I behaved myself there was a place in that tent for me. It didn't matter to me that most of the old fellows could care less about the Eleusinian Mysteries, or the magic of the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Arabs, or the Kabbalah, or Gnosticism, or alchemy, or the suppressed history of Christendom. It didn't bother me when my new Brothers answered my questions by saying things like…"Oh, that doesn't mean anything…It's just symbolic." So what if the Royal Secret was still a mystery to these Princes of the Royal Secret. I was just grateful for the fact that these gentlemen and generations of other dedicated souls had faithfully preserved and guarded the treasure of the Craft; and were now, with shaking hands, delivering it safely to me across the centuries as if it were sealed in a locked casket for which they had no key. I was very grateful indeed – because I had the key. http://www.amazon.com/Key-Solomons-Secrets-Magic-Masonry/dp/1888729147
Footnotes *A Mason is first Initiated into First Degree as an Entered Apprentice, PassedFellow Craft, and Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason (the Third Degree). to the Second Degree of ** The term Blue Lodge is used to describe the three primary and fundamental Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. Once a Mason has been raised to the Degree of Master Mason, he may then go on to affiliate with other Masonic concordant rites such as the York Rite, the Scottish Rite, and the Shrine. ***The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is one of the most popular Masonic concordant bodies in the United States.
**** One of the Ancient Landmarks of the Craft (going back as far as the medieval cathedral builder's guilds) is that Freemasonry is exclusively a men's organization. Regular Masonry remains so today (for no other reason that I can see but the reluctance to abrogate an official Ancient Landmark). There are, however, lodges of Co-Masons (men and women), and other organizations such as Aletheia that are exclusively women.
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