December 29, 2025 • 29 mins
We kickoff our annual year-end tradition, counting down the Top 10 Most Listened to Craftsmen Online Podcast episodes of the year! Join RW Michael Arce, as we start with episodes #10-6 this week. Want to hear the full episodes of our finalists? You can click the link below and enjoy!
The Most Listened to Craftsmen Online Podcast Episodes of 2025
10. WB Nathan Schick — Moses, the Fire Bush, and the Secret Name of God
9. Bro Chris Ruli — Forging a Nation Masonic Leadership During American Political Crises
8. Agueybana Lodge UD - The First Puerto Rican Lodge in the Grand Lodge of New York
7. Bro. Jason Short - Freemasonry's Mystic Tie: A Band of Brothers
6. Bro. Angel Millar — Unveiling Memphis-Misraim
We pick up the countdown with the Top Five Most Listened to Craftsmen Online Podcast Episodes next Monday. Season 6 starts Monday, January 12, 2026. Have a safe and happy New Year!
Show notes:
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/craftsmen-online-podcast--4822031/support.
The Most Listened to Craftsmen Online Podcast Episodes of 2025
10. WB Nathan Schick — Moses, the Fire Bush, and the Secret Name of God
9. Bro Chris Ruli — Forging a Nation Masonic Leadership During American Political Crises
8. Agueybana Lodge UD - The First Puerto Rican Lodge in the Grand Lodge of New York
7. Bro. Jason Short - Freemasonry's Mystic Tie: A Band of Brothers
6. Bro. Angel Millar — Unveiling Memphis-Misraim
We pick up the countdown with the Top Five Most Listened to Craftsmen Online Podcast Episodes next Monday. Season 6 starts Monday, January 12, 2026. Have a safe and happy New Year!
Show notes:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Launch, Concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Asonic Authority, or Craftsman Online dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast. I'm your host,
write worshipal brother Michael Arse, and you've joined us for
our year. In tradition, as over the next two weeks,
we'll be counting down the ten most listen to Craftsman
Online Podcast episodes for twenty twenty five. Now, before we
can get started, a big thank you to all of
my guests this year. Your time, your insight, your expertise
(00:53):
means a lot. It is no easy task to record
and produce fifty two episodes every year, and it would
be a very lonely show, especially for our listener if
they had to hear my voice every week. Finally, a
big shout out to our subscribers, followers, and supporters, especially
those of us on Patreon. Your monthly contributions keep my
(01:15):
focus on securing our top level guests instead of having
to waste time on commercials that mean nothing. And your
financial support that is literally the engine that keeps Craftsman
Online if you know what I mean. So thank you,
thank you, thank you. All right, let's get started with
a twenty twenty five countdown. This week we started number
(01:38):
ten and by next week we'll hit the number one spot.
Our tenth bons Listened To episode for twenty twenty five
has a few firsts. For one, this is the first
episode from this guest and his first appearance on our
top ten list. He's also the first fellow Arizonan to
land on the pod Awesome, and most importantly, his insight
(01:59):
on the myth encounter between Moses and the Burning Bush.
That's the first time that we've discussed that biblical story
on the Craftsman Online podcasts. Worshipful Brother Nathan Schick as
a Master Richulist and Master Lecture from the Grand Lodge
of Arizona. He's also an associate professor at Arizona State University,
where he teaches courses on religion, philosophical studies, and history.
(02:22):
Brother Nasthan was the perfect guess to talk about why
men and Masons are constantly pursuing the name of God.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Number ten.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Ultimately, these are the mysteries of Masonry and that the
ultimate secrets are incommunicable in a direct human to human way.
That's the nature of the mysteries. That's what makes them
so powerful and potent. That the true mysteries are again
by allegory, we can give you a model that's similar
(02:56):
and hopefully then for each Mason, if it is deeply
impressed upon the mind, it then leads to the real
communication that is ineffable. It's not something we can describe
in that kind of direct way. So even though we're
talking about this secret name, it's not like we can
give it to you at the end, for you know,
(03:16):
the cost of admission. I can suddenly tell you here's
the secret name that you actually came for.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And I could see why master Masons are going to
get a lot out of this program because Moses, when
you think about it, his relationship with God or Deity
or the Supreme Architect, he kind of goes from being
a seeker to becoming a servant or a protector of
God's people. And that's kind of part of the story
that is being oppressed upon us as Mason's as we
(03:43):
go from entered apprentice to master.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Mason, right, and that that process is not an easy one.
Moses is very reticent, very hesitant to take on that
kind of mantle, all the way to the point of
effectively kind of angering the fine by saying that he
doesn't think he's up to the task, but eventually becomes
(04:06):
a servant along with his brother Aaron and is able
to cause a real transformation in his community and in history.
And so I think for us similarly that knowing that
that transformation is not necessarily easy. It's difficult, and there's work,
hard work. That's sort of the notion of us laboring
(04:29):
in the quarry and having that transformation take place from
the rough Ashlar to the perfected Ashler is not going
to be a smooth transition necessarily, but the model of
Moses's story shows us the outcome that's possible.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
What I love about presentations like yours, brother, is not
only do you get into something that I'm like, oh,
I love this. I get some historical relevance, I get
some Masonic education, but I also get to expand my
personal knowledge base. You introduced the concept of and I'm
going to turn to you know, Professor Nathan, here is
it thea mania? Am I saying that correctly?
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Right? So, like theos right as God or divine right
and mania like mania like madness. So theo mania is
divine madness, right. And so when we think of you know,
the story about Moses that comes from antiquity, from the
ancient world, and how they're thinking about the potential for communion,
(05:32):
for divine communion. You know, Moses, here's sees this wonder,
sees this fire bush, this bush, it's on fire, but
it is not consumed. And here's a voice, and the
voice says his name Moses, Moses, and he responds, here
I am if today. I mean, you can think about this.
(05:55):
You know, in a contemporary setting, if you go out
hiking with your friend, you see a wonder, there's a
bush burning. Suddenly it starts talking to you, and it
says Nathan, Nathan, and I'm like, yeah, here I am,
and my friends are with me and are like, what's
going on? You're hearing voices and you're talking back. Right,
(06:15):
I won't necessarily look at that as positive, as a
good thing. In our contemporary society, we'd see that as
clinical and as mental illness is something not healthy, not good, right,
we'd mentioned almost immediately describe it that way. But in antiquity,
in the ancient world. That's not the view. And so
when we look at Plato and the padris is where
(06:40):
this is described by the character of Socrates of divine madness,
and it's described very much as these are gifts. This
is divine gifts. These are moments where the human is
out of their mind. That's being clearly given by Plato,
but in a good way way. It's an opportunity where
(07:02):
the rational mind is kind of overcome so that some
kind of real transformation can be initiated.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
This is the second time Masonic author and historian Brother
Chris Ruly has made our countdown list. Congratulations Brother Chris.
Twenty twenty five. It's been a year like no other.
We can immediately admit to that. This year we saw
the peaceful transition of power, a new administration with the
new Vision for America, reduction and force of federal workers
(07:32):
and government programs, National Guards troops in Los Angeles, Washington,
d C, Portland, Chicago, and Memphis. We had the tragic
assassination of Charlie Kirk and Utah and a government shutdown. Yeah,
twenty twenty five was a pretty wild year politically. Our
ninth most listened to episode this year featured a very
(07:53):
interesting concept. We invited back brother Chris Ruly and he
hopped in the old Craftsman Online podcast time machine as
we traveled back through the years to examine how Freemasons
who led our nation as president showcased our Masonic values
while navigating the complexities of American life. Number not until
the most recent occupant of the White House, Brother Gerald Ford,
(08:17):
had a distinction of being the only man to want one
service president who was not elected the office, but also
who kind of one of his first day one duties,
so to speak, was to pardon his predecessor, President Richard Nixon.
I was reading one of his statements, and he said
his purpose for issuing the pardon to Nixon was quote
to change our national focus and that the American people,
(08:40):
quote as he put it, have a long record of
forgiving even those who have been our country's most destructive foes.
That sounds like something a Mason would pen.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yes, absolutely, So Ford joined Freemasonry. His father was a Freemason,
and I believe his brother's were all actually his mother's
were also Freemason. And so Ford became a Mason after
he was elected. He was he became for his first
term in office, not that as president. I mean, as
you know, a junior congressman his father reaches out to
(09:15):
a lodge in d C. Because he only gets the
entited apprentice degree back in Grand Rapids, and then he
heads over to the United States Congress in Washington, d C.
To service term. And I think at his heart Ford
is a very good example of a politician with whom
(09:36):
I would say was trying to balance a Masonic politician.
Excuse me, who's trying to balance contemporary views with you know,
an old style way of doing which is Freemasonry.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Freemasonry is sort of stuck in its ways in certain aspects.
For the institution is an old institution. Over time people
find ways of modernizing it and making it more accessible
to people and making it more easier for people to
understand and to get into. And Ford had the additional
(10:12):
problem of I'm also now a contemporar back in the day,
a contemporary politician. Right, So there's not as many Freemasons.
A lot of these folks are unfortunately dying. But I
think the values that he understood the importance of the fraternity.
He was also stuck in a difficult position, right, how
(10:32):
do you pardon someone who went through a really difficult administration,
who was caught in a rather terribly embarrassing instance.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
What they referred to as the country's long national nightmare.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Ford absolutely look at his I mean, look at the
presidential papers right, go in his library and read how
he felt about things and how people messaged him and
communicated him. He knew that he was in a tough spot.
I think what Ford was trying to do was, let's
acknowledge that this issue happened. Let's recognize that we are infallible,
and then we are human and we are constantly trying
(11:07):
to be better. And at the same time, let's recognize
from a practical perspective that he's no longer the president
of the United States. Let's move on from this, and
let's find a ways to do this.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
And if pardoning him means we can all move on
and we can find better ways to live our lives,
to address the concerns and probably you know, address the issue,
the real issues that are happening that day, then let's
move on.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I think that is a skill that has learned in freemason,
and that goes back to the first lecture or perhaps
the first initiation. Right, What's the first degree. The first
degree is your introduction to freemasonry, and there's there's a
lot about science, there's a lot about listening. There's a
lot about maybe not acting yet, there's a lot about
(11:52):
this is the beginning of your journey. So those are
the types of values that I think Ford was looking
for or trying to emulate when he made those decisions.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
The countdown to the most listened To Craftsman Online Podcast
episode for twenty twenty five has just started. After this
quick break, we're picking up with number eight, our first
episode to feature an entire lodge. See it a few
(12:27):
Welcome back to the countdown. We're working our way to
the most listened to Craftsman Online Podcast episode of twenty
twenty five. You download, you listen, iHeartMedia stacks up the metrics,
and we get to count them down. We're up to
number eight on the list. Did I mention that twenty
twenty five was a year of first Yeah, this is
the first episode that we've done that has featured a
(12:48):
lodge leadership line. I'veway bought a lodge began this year
as the first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation in New
York State. In May I was able to witness the
received their charter at the twenty twenty five session of
the Grand Lodge of New York. For this episode, we
were honored to be joined by the charter members right
(13:09):
Worshipful Brother Tim Rios, Worshipful Brothers Victor Nek Groin, Will Green,
and Brother Renee Perez. They shared how the rich history
of Freemasonry in Puerto Rican now has a proud home
in New York City.
Speaker 6 (13:21):
Number to be Puerto Rican, and I think worshipul well
when they can agree with this, is to be born
in a culture of struggle, struggle for liberty, struggle of
self representation. You know, our whole identity came out of
(13:41):
this desire to want to be free. Look, the Puerto
Rican community and African American community in New York City,
we lived side by side to each other. We endure
a lot of the same forms of discrimination. We endured
a lot of the civil rights struggles. And I wanted
(14:02):
to make it a point that the Prince whole brothers
were brothers, that we were on the level, that we
were going to meet on the level, and that there
was no distinction among us.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
That we were brothers. And you know, whether we came
from Prince Haul or grand out of the state.
Speaker 6 (14:16):
It didn't matter because we have to provide an example
when we go back to the community that they can see,
that the young people can see, Wow, these guys are
African American, they're Puerto Rican, They're Dominican, and they're all
talking to each other.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
They're all getting alone, they're all talking each other.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Brother. I think that's important to fight a lot of
the divisiousness that is happening in our neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
Michael, So you remember a while back when I did
your first podcast about my travels to the island and
I and I was writing for Craftman Online about my travels.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I remember that.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Yeah, at that time, I didn't know Victor at the time,
and I didn't know I was friends with the Grand
Master of Puerto Rico. Now I named it is Kalipe
about it well.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Ride Worship.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
As I came back and I met Victim because me
and Victor is in the same valley of New York City,
and I met Timothy Reels right worship. With Timothy Reels,
I was trying to have them affiliate with the same
lodge in Puerto Rico with me, and we signed the
petitions and everything. Now Will was a different story because
me and Will met in the Bronx. It turns out
that makestre it is beautiful. It's it's really is a
(15:25):
small world. Turns out his dad and my dad and
my whole family, they all were friends and they knew
each other.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Yeah, go to my house way my mother the house
was at like, oh wow, I didn't even know that body.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Bag because he lived the block for me.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
He lived a block away.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, right up the block from my grandparents had a house.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Oh man, it's like old polaroid pictures of I bet
the three of you guys right worship of Brother Jason
Short is no stranger to our podcast or to Craftsman Online.
He scored the number one spot on last year's Countdown.
He's now the host of the Craftsman Online Reading Room,
is the sitting master of Aurora Grada day Star Lodge,
(16:06):
and Jason is a newly minted right worshipful serving the
Grand Lodge of New York.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Talk about a busy year. Our seventh most listened to
episode is a very personal one in the sense that
this is the byproduct of a conversation Jason and I
shared while sitting on my back patio trying to solve
world problems. One night, our talk ventured into the topic
of male loneliness and the epidemic that's facing the country,
what the brotherhood of Freemasonry means to us, and how
(16:34):
being free and accepted changed our lives.
Speaker 8 (16:39):
I mean, you've been going through the candidate process and
leading up to my initiation, we're asked to do like
a letter of introspection, I think is a tradition that
a lot of lodges share. M have you been getting
up to that point? I knew I was there, and
I just knew I was damaged goods, you know, I was.
(17:00):
I was a rough ashlar and I just felt so
rough around the edges. But HM, I knew I was
a good person. I've always known I'm a good person.
I guess a part of me even at that well,
at that point, really felt like I might fail, Like
this might end up being another thing that I think
(17:22):
I'm gonna want to do and get into and then
realize I'm not good enough for it. That wasn't the case.
And after getting initiated and actually and even leading up
to that point, I got to hand it to my
lodge brothers who had been welcoming me. They did a
wonderful job trying to lay the foundation, but it's not
(17:45):
until you really start to participate in the work. And
sometimes it's not even just the network of masonry that's
inside of your lodge or what your lodge can present
to you, so much as what masonry can offer for you.
That start starts to make a real positive, positive difference.
(18:06):
It makes you start to feel like you really belong.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Jason. When you hear the words free and accepted and
go back to that place where you were looking to
be accepted and find a place to be free, what
do those words mean to you now?
Speaker 8 (18:24):
Like the first instinct of what hit me with free
and accepted, it's was this idea that here i am.
I'm I'm a free man in a free world, very
fortunate and grateful, but then also that I'm accepted into
(18:44):
this society of like minded and god loving individuals and
on a very just like exoteric surface level, that that
brings me a lot of joy. I'm and it's not
free in what society is saying is free, the construct
(19:09):
of freedom, I'm not talking about that. I am, I
am a human individual.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I am a.
Speaker 8 (19:16):
Grown ass, free man. I'm an entity on this planet that,
no matter what the construct of the world wants to
say I fit into or my limitations are, I know
that I am free and that this mystic tie is
(19:40):
accepting me into that family of which I believe.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
After this time out, our countdown to the most listen
To Craftsman Online Podcast episode for twenty twenty five returns
with our first guest to appear on the hit list
for three years in a row. See in a few Hey,
(20:07):
welcome back to the countdown of the most listened to
Craftsman Online Podcast episodes of twenty to twenty five. Just
a recap. We kick this list off with number ten
and we are working our way to the top spot now.
This week we're going to be featuring episodes ten through six,
and next week we'll pick up the top five. This
is Brother Angel Malar's third consecutive appearance on the countdown,
(20:30):
and while annually ranking as the most listened to podcast guest,
isn't a surprise. Brother Angel continues to provide meaningful Masonic
education monthly as the editor in chief of The Fraternal
Review Magazine, a publication from the Southern California Lodge of Research.
Over the years, Angel and I have become very good friends.
And what I love about Angel, aside from his endless
(20:52):
energy and truth seeking, is that he doesn't shy away
from controversial topics. For our seventh Most Listened To f
twenty twenty five, Angel dived into the right of Memphis
miseryam and how this vein of Egyptian freemasonry continues to
be an area of contention for those seeking it more
Masonic life. As the editor in chief of the Fraternal Review,
(21:16):
what motivated you to get into this and what should
guys like me know before we start this conversation.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (21:22):
So, Memphis misery m or sometimes called Memphis and Misrian,
is a rite or rights of fringe Masonry that is
highly controversial, largely because it has so many degrees. Most
of the rights have around ninety six degrees, some a
couple more, some some of were reduced to thirty three degrees.
(21:45):
It's always been a bit of a competitor to the
Scottish riot as such as you can imagine, It's also
often considered to be much more esoteric and a cult
and kind of overlapping onto vitual magic to a certain degree,
and in some of its incarnations it does resemble the
(22:06):
Hemitic order of the Golden Dawn to why a large degree.
So that is probably why it's controversial. Of partly why
it's controversial. It was originally two different rights, the rights
of misery and then the right of Memphis, and then
they fuse together to become the right of Memphis Misraa.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So the basic story of the first three degrees of
freemasonry really revolve around the allegory of building your symbolic
temple King Solomon. There's a lot of religion that's stewed
into that. Does this right follow that or is there
other undertones? And you mentioned magic, so it's less religion
and more mystic.
Speaker 9 (22:48):
Many of the degrees are based on the sort of
same Hebrew, Jewish Old Testament mythology that you would find
in freemasonry and crafts freemasonry. Many of the degrees are
more or less the same as the Scottish Rite as well. Yes,
it does have some different elements. We actually have one
article explaining the esoteric symbolism and in a sense even
(23:13):
what one might call the magic of the third degree
of Memphis Miseraym. And there the candidate is identified with
the god Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, and is
not merely raised or even resurrected. The point is that
you've kind of become in a sense, a living god
or something is incarnated in your soul. You're resurrected and
(23:37):
become this essentially a divine being. So it's a lot
more mystical in that sense.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And then I want to get back to the point
you made where they were two separate bodies. You had
Memphis and then you had Miseram, and then they came together.
What was the reason for that?
Speaker 9 (23:53):
Yeah, well, originally it was Miseram and then later Memphis
to give a little bit of the prehistory and history
of Memphis Misery. During the eighteenth century, of course, you
get this explosion of Masonic rights and degrees. I think
there are about a thousand degrees by the end of
the eighteenth century, and multiple rights district observance, the Asiatic
(24:15):
Brethren forerunners of the Scottish Rite, of course, and then
sort of almost fringe Masonic rights or orders such as
the Golden Rosy Brass or Golden Rosic Briustians, which was
only open to free Masons, so you have all of
these rights, and then by the end of the eighteenth
century you have also, of course the Egyptian Right of
(24:37):
free masonry, which isn't really based on anything in Egyptian
Egypt was very much in vogue at that time, so
it acquired that name, and no one had created an
Egyptian right at least that was known at all, So
that was a good new spin on the fraternity, others
with teaching alchemy or saying that they descended from the
(24:59):
nights time and so on. And the Egyptian right itself,
founded by Count Caliostro, was as I say, not influenced
by ancient Egypt, but influenced by contemporary then contemporary Rosicrucianism
and alchemy, hermeticism, this kind of thing, and it is
very evident in their rituals. This leads on to the
(25:20):
creation of other rights, and then around eighteen o five
you get the right of misram, which originally had around
seventy seven degrees, and then at that point I think
had ninety five degrees. One of the members of the
Right of Misery and Marconist and Neebra, who seemed to
be in a little bit of a rogue, we might say,
(25:43):
kept having falling out with the leadership of the Right
of Misrium, and then later he founded his own right
of Memphis, which was essentially the same right, and then
they merged back together or very similar right.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
What should say you hit on something in quote, the
right of Memphis Misriam has fascinated, intrigued, and even enraged
regular freemasons. And you were saying how you had to
be a master mason before you could enter into this.
So why did it become so contentious?
Speaker 9 (26:16):
So one of the reasons is they will confer the
three degrees if you join a Memphis Misram right today,
So in that sense it is an irregular right. I
think the real reason has nothing to do with that.
All of these rights. Of course, the Scottish rite has
its own three degrees, of course, but I think the
(26:38):
real problem is that it has so many degrees that
it dwarfs the Scottish rite. Albert Pike referred to the
esoteric teachings and rituals of the of Memphis Misery as
quote unquote cheap wares. So it seems to have been
a little bit had his nose put out of joy,
we might say, and I think that's because if you're
(27:00):
the grand commander in a thirty third degree and someone
else is a fiftieth degree or sixtieth degree or seventieth
eightieth or ninety seventh degree, maybe being the thirty third
degree in grand commander is not as privileged and as
special as one might have thought. So I think that's
(27:21):
the real reason to be about, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
That wraps up the first part of our twenty twenty
five countdown. I hope you've enjoyed this look back on
the highlights from some of our awesome topics and exciting
guests from this year. When I talk about the podcast,
I tell people my two favorite weeks of the year
are the last, because this countdown is like our greatest
hit CD, well back when they still made music that
you could hold and own. Next week we start with
(27:49):
number five and will continue working our way up to
the most listened to Craftsman Online Podcast episode of twenty
twenty five. Just a reminder, you can listen to future episodes,
add for and get access to our full collection of
subscriber extra episodes featuring a lot of the guests you've
heard on the Countdown so far. By becoming a Patreon subscriber,
(28:09):
we're going to even get to started with a seven
day free trial. Find the link in the notes for
this episode, or search for Craftsman Online Podcast on Patreon
and thanks in advance. I'm right worship for Brother Michael
Lars until next week. Let peace and harmony prevail.
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Launch, Concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Asonic Authority, or Craftsman Online dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast. I'm your host,
write worshipal brother Michael Arse, and you've joined us for
our year. In tradition, as over the next two weeks,
we'll be counting down the ten most listen to Craftsman
Online Podcast episodes for twenty twenty five. Now, before we
can get started, a big thank you to all of
my guests this year. Your time, your insight, your expertise
(00:53):
means a lot. It is no easy task to record
and produce fifty two episodes every year, and it would
be a very lonely show, especially for our listener if
they had to hear my voice every week. Finally, a
big shout out to our subscribers, followers, and supporters, especially
those of us on Patreon. Your monthly contributions keep my
(01:15):
focus on securing our top level guests instead of having
to waste time on commercials that mean nothing. And your
financial support that is literally the engine that keeps Craftsman
Online if you know what I mean. So thank you,
thank you, thank you. All right, let's get started with
a twenty twenty five countdown. This week we started number
(01:38):
ten and by next week we'll hit the number one spot.
Our tenth bons Listened To episode for twenty twenty five
has a few firsts. For one, this is the first
episode from this guest and his first appearance on our
top ten list. He's also the first fellow Arizonan to
land on the pod Awesome, and most importantly, his insight
(01:59):
on the myth encounter between Moses and the Burning Bush.
That's the first time that we've discussed that biblical story
on the Craftsman Online podcasts. Worshipful Brother Nathan Schick as
a Master Richulist and Master Lecture from the Grand Lodge
of Arizona. He's also an associate professor at Arizona State University,
where he teaches courses on religion, philosophical studies, and history.
(02:22):
Brother Nasthan was the perfect guess to talk about why
men and Masons are constantly pursuing the name of God.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Number ten.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Ultimately, these are the mysteries of Masonry and that the
ultimate secrets are incommunicable in a direct human to human way.
That's the nature of the mysteries. That's what makes them
so powerful and potent. That the true mysteries are again
by allegory, we can give you a model that's similar
(02:56):
and hopefully then for each Mason, if it is deeply
impressed upon the mind, it then leads to the real
communication that is ineffable. It's not something we can describe
in that kind of direct way. So even though we're
talking about this secret name, it's not like we can
give it to you at the end, for you know,
(03:16):
the cost of admission. I can suddenly tell you here's
the secret name that you actually came for.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And I could see why master Masons are going to
get a lot out of this program because Moses, when
you think about it, his relationship with God or Deity
or the Supreme Architect, he kind of goes from being
a seeker to becoming a servant or a protector of
God's people. And that's kind of part of the story
that is being oppressed upon us as Mason's as we
(03:43):
go from entered apprentice to master.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Mason, right, and that that process is not an easy one.
Moses is very reticent, very hesitant to take on that
kind of mantle, all the way to the point of
effectively kind of angering the fine by saying that he
doesn't think he's up to the task, but eventually becomes
(04:06):
a servant along with his brother Aaron and is able
to cause a real transformation in his community and in history.
And so I think for us similarly that knowing that
that transformation is not necessarily easy. It's difficult, and there's work,
hard work. That's sort of the notion of us laboring
(04:29):
in the quarry and having that transformation take place from
the rough Ashlar to the perfected Ashler is not going
to be a smooth transition necessarily, but the model of
Moses's story shows us the outcome that's possible.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
What I love about presentations like yours, brother, is not
only do you get into something that I'm like, oh,
I love this. I get some historical relevance, I get
some Masonic education, but I also get to expand my
personal knowledge base. You introduced the concept of and I'm
going to turn to you know, Professor Nathan, here is
it thea mania? Am I saying that correctly?
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Right? So, like theos right as God or divine right
and mania like mania like madness. So theo mania is
divine madness, right. And so when we think of you know,
the story about Moses that comes from antiquity, from the
ancient world, and how they're thinking about the potential for communion,
(05:32):
for divine communion. You know, Moses, here's sees this wonder,
sees this fire bush, this bush, it's on fire, but
it is not consumed. And here's a voice, and the
voice says his name Moses, Moses, and he responds, here
I am if today. I mean, you can think about this.
(05:55):
You know, in a contemporary setting, if you go out
hiking with your friend, you see a wonder, there's a
bush burning. Suddenly it starts talking to you, and it
says Nathan, Nathan, and I'm like, yeah, here I am,
and my friends are with me and are like, what's
going on? You're hearing voices and you're talking back. Right,
(06:15):
I won't necessarily look at that as positive, as a
good thing. In our contemporary society, we'd see that as
clinical and as mental illness is something not healthy, not good, right,
we'd mentioned almost immediately describe it that way. But in antiquity,
in the ancient world. That's not the view. And so
when we look at Plato and the padris is where
(06:40):
this is described by the character of Socrates of divine madness,
and it's described very much as these are gifts. This
is divine gifts. These are moments where the human is
out of their mind. That's being clearly given by Plato,
but in a good way way. It's an opportunity where
(07:02):
the rational mind is kind of overcome so that some
kind of real transformation can be initiated.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
This is the second time Masonic author and historian Brother
Chris Ruly has made our countdown list. Congratulations Brother Chris.
Twenty twenty five. It's been a year like no other.
We can immediately admit to that. This year we saw
the peaceful transition of power, a new administration with the
new Vision for America, reduction and force of federal workers
(07:32):
and government programs, National Guards troops in Los Angeles, Washington,
d C, Portland, Chicago, and Memphis. We had the tragic
assassination of Charlie Kirk and Utah and a government shutdown. Yeah,
twenty twenty five was a pretty wild year politically. Our
ninth most listened to episode this year featured a very
(07:53):
interesting concept. We invited back brother Chris Ruly and he
hopped in the old Craftsman Online podcast time machine as
we traveled back through the years to examine how Freemasons
who led our nation as president showcased our Masonic values
while navigating the complexities of American life. Number not until
the most recent occupant of the White House, Brother Gerald Ford,
(08:17):
had a distinction of being the only man to want one
service president who was not elected the office, but also
who kind of one of his first day one duties,
so to speak, was to pardon his predecessor, President Richard Nixon.
I was reading one of his statements, and he said
his purpose for issuing the pardon to Nixon was quote
to change our national focus and that the American people,
(08:40):
quote as he put it, have a long record of
forgiving even those who have been our country's most destructive foes.
That sounds like something a Mason would pen.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yes, absolutely, So Ford joined Freemasonry. His father was a Freemason,
and I believe his brother's were all actually his mother's
were also Freemason. And so Ford became a Mason after
he was elected. He was he became for his first
term in office, not that as president. I mean, as
you know, a junior congressman his father reaches out to
(09:15):
a lodge in d C. Because he only gets the
entited apprentice degree back in Grand Rapids, and then he
heads over to the United States Congress in Washington, d C.
To service term. And I think at his heart Ford
is a very good example of a politician with whom
(09:36):
I would say was trying to balance a Masonic politician.
Excuse me, who's trying to balance contemporary views with you know,
an old style way of doing which is Freemasonry.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Freemasonry is sort of stuck in its ways in certain aspects.
For the institution is an old institution. Over time people
find ways of modernizing it and making it more accessible
to people and making it more easier for people to
understand and to get into. And Ford had the additional
(10:12):
problem of I'm also now a contemporar back in the day,
a contemporary politician. Right, So there's not as many Freemasons.
A lot of these folks are unfortunately dying. But I
think the values that he understood the importance of the fraternity.
He was also stuck in a difficult position, right, how
(10:32):
do you pardon someone who went through a really difficult administration,
who was caught in a rather terribly embarrassing instance.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
What they referred to as the country's long national nightmare.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Ford absolutely look at his I mean, look at the
presidential papers right, go in his library and read how
he felt about things and how people messaged him and
communicated him. He knew that he was in a tough spot.
I think what Ford was trying to do was, let's
acknowledge that this issue happened. Let's recognize that we are infallible,
and then we are human and we are constantly trying
(11:07):
to be better. And at the same time, let's recognize
from a practical perspective that he's no longer the president
of the United States. Let's move on from this, and
let's find a ways to do this.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
And if pardoning him means we can all move on
and we can find better ways to live our lives,
to address the concerns and probably you know, address the issue,
the real issues that are happening that day, then let's
move on.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I think that is a skill that has learned in freemason,
and that goes back to the first lecture or perhaps
the first initiation. Right, What's the first degree. The first
degree is your introduction to freemasonry, and there's there's a
lot about science, there's a lot about listening. There's a
lot about maybe not acting yet, there's a lot about
(11:52):
this is the beginning of your journey. So those are
the types of values that I think Ford was looking
for or trying to emulate when he made those decisions.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
The countdown to the most listened To Craftsman Online Podcast
episode for twenty twenty five has just started. After this
quick break, we're picking up with number eight, our first
episode to feature an entire lodge. See it a few
(12:27):
Welcome back to the countdown. We're working our way to
the most listened to Craftsman Online Podcast episode of twenty
twenty five. You download, you listen, iHeartMedia stacks up the metrics,
and we get to count them down. We're up to
number eight on the list. Did I mention that twenty
twenty five was a year of first Yeah, this is
the first episode that we've done that has featured a
(12:48):
lodge leadership line. I'veway bought a lodge began this year
as the first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation in New
York State. In May I was able to witness the
received their charter at the twenty twenty five session of
the Grand Lodge of New York. For this episode, we
were honored to be joined by the charter members right
(13:09):
Worshipful Brother Tim Rios, Worshipful Brothers Victor Nek Groin, Will Green,
and Brother Renee Perez. They shared how the rich history
of Freemasonry in Puerto Rican now has a proud home
in New York City.
Speaker 6 (13:21):
Number to be Puerto Rican, and I think worshipul well
when they can agree with this, is to be born
in a culture of struggle, struggle for liberty, struggle of
self representation. You know, our whole identity came out of
(13:41):
this desire to want to be free. Look, the Puerto
Rican community and African American community in New York City,
we lived side by side to each other. We endure
a lot of the same forms of discrimination. We endured
a lot of the civil rights struggles. And I wanted
(14:02):
to make it a point that the Prince whole brothers
were brothers, that we were on the level, that we
were going to meet on the level, and that there
was no distinction among us.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
That we were brothers. And you know, whether we came
from Prince Haul or grand out of the state.
Speaker 6 (14:16):
It didn't matter because we have to provide an example
when we go back to the community that they can see,
that the young people can see, Wow, these guys are
African American, they're Puerto Rican, They're Dominican, and they're all
talking to each other.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
They're all getting alone, they're all talking each other.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Brother. I think that's important to fight a lot of
the divisiousness that is happening in our neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
Michael, So you remember a while back when I did
your first podcast about my travels to the island and
I and I was writing for Craftman Online about my travels.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I remember that.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Yeah, at that time, I didn't know Victor at the time,
and I didn't know I was friends with the Grand
Master of Puerto Rico. Now I named it is Kalipe
about it well.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Ride Worship.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
As I came back and I met Victim because me
and Victor is in the same valley of New York City,
and I met Timothy Reels right worship. With Timothy Reels,
I was trying to have them affiliate with the same
lodge in Puerto Rico with me, and we signed the
petitions and everything. Now Will was a different story because
me and Will met in the Bronx. It turns out
that makestre it is beautiful. It's it's really is a
(15:25):
small world. Turns out his dad and my dad and
my whole family, they all were friends and they knew
each other.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Yeah, go to my house way my mother the house
was at like, oh wow, I didn't even know that body.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Bag because he lived the block for me.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
He lived a block away.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, right up the block from my grandparents had a house.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Oh man, it's like old polaroid pictures of I bet
the three of you guys right worship of Brother Jason
Short is no stranger to our podcast or to Craftsman Online.
He scored the number one spot on last year's Countdown.
He's now the host of the Craftsman Online Reading Room,
is the sitting master of Aurora Grada day Star Lodge,
(16:06):
and Jason is a newly minted right worshipful serving the
Grand Lodge of New York.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Talk about a busy year. Our seventh most listened to
episode is a very personal one in the sense that
this is the byproduct of a conversation Jason and I
shared while sitting on my back patio trying to solve
world problems. One night, our talk ventured into the topic
of male loneliness and the epidemic that's facing the country,
what the brotherhood of Freemasonry means to us, and how
(16:34):
being free and accepted changed our lives.
Speaker 8 (16:39):
I mean, you've been going through the candidate process and
leading up to my initiation, we're asked to do like
a letter of introspection, I think is a tradition that
a lot of lodges share. M have you been getting
up to that point? I knew I was there, and
I just knew I was damaged goods, you know, I was.
(17:00):
I was a rough ashlar and I just felt so
rough around the edges. But HM, I knew I was
a good person. I've always known I'm a good person.
I guess a part of me even at that well,
at that point, really felt like I might fail, Like
this might end up being another thing that I think
(17:22):
I'm gonna want to do and get into and then
realize I'm not good enough for it. That wasn't the case.
And after getting initiated and actually and even leading up
to that point, I got to hand it to my
lodge brothers who had been welcoming me. They did a
wonderful job trying to lay the foundation, but it's not
(17:45):
until you really start to participate in the work. And
sometimes it's not even just the network of masonry that's
inside of your lodge or what your lodge can present
to you, so much as what masonry can offer for you.
That start starts to make a real positive, positive difference.
(18:06):
It makes you start to feel like you really belong.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Jason. When you hear the words free and accepted and
go back to that place where you were looking to
be accepted and find a place to be free, what
do those words mean to you now?
Speaker 8 (18:24):
Like the first instinct of what hit me with free
and accepted, it's was this idea that here i am.
I'm I'm a free man in a free world, very
fortunate and grateful, but then also that I'm accepted into
(18:44):
this society of like minded and god loving individuals and
on a very just like exoteric surface level, that that
brings me a lot of joy. I'm and it's not
free in what society is saying is free, the construct
(19:09):
of freedom, I'm not talking about that. I am, I
am a human individual.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I am a.
Speaker 8 (19:16):
Grown ass, free man. I'm an entity on this planet that,
no matter what the construct of the world wants to
say I fit into or my limitations are, I know
that I am free and that this mystic tie is
(19:40):
accepting me into that family of which I believe.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
After this time out, our countdown to the most listen
To Craftsman Online Podcast episode for twenty twenty five returns
with our first guest to appear on the hit list
for three years in a row. See in a few Hey,
(20:07):
welcome back to the countdown of the most listened to
Craftsman Online Podcast episodes of twenty to twenty five. Just
a recap. We kick this list off with number ten
and we are working our way to the top spot now.
This week we're going to be featuring episodes ten through six,
and next week we'll pick up the top five. This
is Brother Angel Malar's third consecutive appearance on the countdown,
(20:30):
and while annually ranking as the most listened to podcast guest,
isn't a surprise. Brother Angel continues to provide meaningful Masonic
education monthly as the editor in chief of The Fraternal
Review Magazine, a publication from the Southern California Lodge of Research.
Over the years, Angel and I have become very good friends.
And what I love about Angel, aside from his endless
(20:52):
energy and truth seeking, is that he doesn't shy away
from controversial topics. For our seventh Most Listened To f
twenty twenty five, Angel dived into the right of Memphis
miseryam and how this vein of Egyptian freemasonry continues to
be an area of contention for those seeking it more
Masonic life. As the editor in chief of the Fraternal Review,
(21:16):
what motivated you to get into this and what should
guys like me know before we start this conversation.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (21:22):
So, Memphis misery m or sometimes called Memphis and Misrian,
is a rite or rights of fringe Masonry that is
highly controversial, largely because it has so many degrees. Most
of the rights have around ninety six degrees, some a
couple more, some some of were reduced to thirty three degrees.
(21:45):
It's always been a bit of a competitor to the
Scottish riot as such as you can imagine, It's also
often considered to be much more esoteric and a cult
and kind of overlapping onto vitual magic to a certain degree,
and in some of its incarnations it does resemble the
(22:06):
Hemitic order of the Golden Dawn to why a large degree.
So that is probably why it's controversial. Of partly why
it's controversial. It was originally two different rights, the rights
of misery and then the right of Memphis, and then
they fuse together to become the right of Memphis Misraa.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So the basic story of the first three degrees of
freemasonry really revolve around the allegory of building your symbolic
temple King Solomon. There's a lot of religion that's stewed
into that. Does this right follow that or is there
other undertones? And you mentioned magic, so it's less religion
and more mystic.
Speaker 9 (22:48):
Many of the degrees are based on the sort of
same Hebrew, Jewish Old Testament mythology that you would find
in freemasonry and crafts freemasonry. Many of the degrees are
more or less the same as the Scottish Rite as well. Yes,
it does have some different elements. We actually have one
article explaining the esoteric symbolism and in a sense even
(23:13):
what one might call the magic of the third degree
of Memphis Miseraym. And there the candidate is identified with
the god Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, and is
not merely raised or even resurrected. The point is that
you've kind of become in a sense, a living god
or something is incarnated in your soul. You're resurrected and
(23:37):
become this essentially a divine being. So it's a lot
more mystical in that sense.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And then I want to get back to the point
you made where they were two separate bodies. You had
Memphis and then you had Miseram, and then they came together.
What was the reason for that?
Speaker 9 (23:53):
Yeah, well, originally it was Miseram and then later Memphis
to give a little bit of the prehistory and history
of Memphis Misery. During the eighteenth century, of course, you
get this explosion of Masonic rights and degrees. I think
there are about a thousand degrees by the end of
the eighteenth century, and multiple rights district observance, the Asiatic
(24:15):
Brethren forerunners of the Scottish Rite, of course, and then
sort of almost fringe Masonic rights or orders such as
the Golden Rosy Brass or Golden Rosic Briustians, which was
only open to free Masons, so you have all of
these rights, and then by the end of the eighteenth
century you have also, of course the Egyptian Right of
(24:37):
free masonry, which isn't really based on anything in Egyptian
Egypt was very much in vogue at that time, so
it acquired that name, and no one had created an
Egyptian right at least that was known at all, So
that was a good new spin on the fraternity, others
with teaching alchemy or saying that they descended from the
(24:59):
nights time and so on. And the Egyptian right itself,
founded by Count Caliostro, was as I say, not influenced
by ancient Egypt, but influenced by contemporary then contemporary Rosicrucianism
and alchemy, hermeticism, this kind of thing, and it is
very evident in their rituals. This leads on to the
(25:20):
creation of other rights, and then around eighteen o five
you get the right of misram, which originally had around
seventy seven degrees, and then at that point I think
had ninety five degrees. One of the members of the
Right of Misery and Marconist and Neebra, who seemed to
be in a little bit of a rogue, we might say,
(25:43):
kept having falling out with the leadership of the Right
of Misrium, and then later he founded his own right
of Memphis, which was essentially the same right, and then
they merged back together or very similar right.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
What should say you hit on something in quote, the
right of Memphis Misriam has fascinated, intrigued, and even enraged
regular freemasons. And you were saying how you had to
be a master mason before you could enter into this.
So why did it become so contentious?
Speaker 9 (26:16):
So one of the reasons is they will confer the
three degrees if you join a Memphis Misram right today,
So in that sense it is an irregular right. I
think the real reason has nothing to do with that.
All of these rights. Of course, the Scottish rite has
its own three degrees, of course, but I think the
(26:38):
real problem is that it has so many degrees that
it dwarfs the Scottish rite. Albert Pike referred to the
esoteric teachings and rituals of the of Memphis Misery as
quote unquote cheap wares. So it seems to have been
a little bit had his nose put out of joy,
we might say, and I think that's because if you're
(27:00):
the grand commander in a thirty third degree and someone
else is a fiftieth degree or sixtieth degree or seventieth
eightieth or ninety seventh degree, maybe being the thirty third
degree in grand commander is not as privileged and as
special as one might have thought. So I think that's
(27:21):
the real reason to be about, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
That wraps up the first part of our twenty twenty
five countdown. I hope you've enjoyed this look back on
the highlights from some of our awesome topics and exciting
guests from this year. When I talk about the podcast,
I tell people my two favorite weeks of the year
are the last, because this countdown is like our greatest
hit CD, well back when they still made music that
you could hold and own. Next week we start with
(27:49):
number five and will continue working our way up to
the most listened to Craftsman Online Podcast episode of twenty
twenty five. Just a reminder, you can listen to future episodes,
add for and get access to our full collection of
subscriber extra episodes featuring a lot of the guests you've
heard on the Countdown so far. By becoming a Patreon subscriber,
(28:09):
we're going to even get to started with a seven
day free trial. Find the link in the notes for
this episode, or search for Craftsman Online Podcast on Patreon
and thanks in advance. I'm right worship for Brother Michael
Lars until next week. Let peace and harmony prevail.
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