The third Saint John?

 

Today’s thought may be a little long.

I have a bit of education as well as general thoughts on my mind. So, kick back and here we go.

Today is the Autumn Equinox. One of the two days on the calendar where Light and Dark are in perfect balance. This happens on the Equinoxes. During the time of the Solstices Light or dark it at its height. Depending on which one you are approaching. For those interested in this kind of thing the Equinoxes and Solstices are always 0 degrees whatever zodiac sign they are in. 0 degrees because they are the beginning of a season. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

The Fall Equinox is the first day of fall and falls at 0 degrees Libra, when the Sun enters that zodiac sign. It is worth noting the dichotomy of the placement of the sun during these events is always 180 degrees. As they are marked as the Sun travels the elliptic and through the signs of the Zodiac. The Solstices and Equinoxes are 180 degrees opposed to each other.

If you want to know something very interesting, you can take the holidays and lay them over the Lodge and see where the officer’s line up. Without going into a lot of detail. The Summer Solstice on the Junior Warden, Fall Equinox on the Senior Warden, Winter Solstice in the North, and Spring Equinox in the East. Yes, there are holidays in between that will cover the deacons and stewards.
Anyway, your Principal Chairs (and officers) will be 0 degrees and your deacons, and stewards 15 degrees. Just a bit of Liberal Art and Science.

Now the Fall or Autumn Equinox is a harvest festival. In Kansas we are gearing up to start the harvest of the fields. In fact, if you are out driving our two-lane blacktops, be careful. You may happen upon a combine, and they really have nowhere to go. But it is a time to cut the grain and bring it into the barn, in time to take to market.

The wages of a Mason are corn, wine, and oil. Corn being just another word for grain. In Japan it would be rice, sake, and oil. Here is Kansas our main crop is wheat. So, for us it may be Wheat, Wine, and oil. OK to be fair it could be anything as we have corn, soybean, milo, wheat, etc.

With this being harvest season it is the time it is a time for the old adage “Come home to roost”. You cannot plant wheat and pray for soybean. We had a vision of what we wanted, planted the seed with good intention (or I hope we did), watered, weeded, applied the proper fertilizer, and reaped what we have sown. If you haven’t, you will. What we put out into the world always has a way of “coming home to roost”. This is why we are cautioned and told to apply the principles that we learn with in the Lodge in to practice in our daily lives.

Now there is an English / Scottish folk song about a man named John Barley Corn. The song talks about harvesting the corps but paint John as the spirit of the field and from planting to reaping. The were not the kindest to poor old John, putting him in the ground and throwing clots on him, when he grew old, they cut him off at the knee, ground him between stones, but in the end.

“And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
And he's brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last”

Stay true to your ideals and principles, make sure you are planting what you desire to harvest, weed, water, and fertilize (yes sometimes its crap) it when needed.

You will receive the wages you have worked for.

I love you and may we govern ourselves accordingly.