Union Lodge 618 AF & AM

08/24/2026

08/20/2026

Full Moon Masonry.

Most Masons know the moon has a place in the Craft.

Very few know some American Lodges still let it decide when Lodge night happens.

They are called Moon Lodges.

Long before headlights, paved roads and streetlights, Brothers could be traveling miles by foot, horseback or buggy just to attend Lodge. Scheduling the meeting near the full moon gave them something incredibly valuable on the trip home.

Light.

Most Lodges eventually abandoned the practice.

Some never did.

Their stated meeting can still move across the calendar according to the moon, preserving a tradition that reaches back to the days when getting home from Lodge meant watching the sky.

One Masonic history source estimates roughly 129 Moon Lodges remain in the United States, with Texas historically leading the count and Pennsylvania maintaining one of the strongest concentrations.

The electric light replaced the moon for most of America.

These Lodges kept looking up.

Traveling Ashlar
Wear. Share. Travel.

08/19/2026

FYI…

1st Annual Shrine Clubs Extravaganza, Saturday, October 3, 2026 at the Farm Bureau Livestock Arena.

08/19/2026

Knights Of Solomon annual rally fundraiser. Contact WB Doug Osborne if interested.

Rally & drawing Oct 17th

08/19/2026

We need to make a road trip next time!

Third degree in the cave
Tennessee

08/19/2026

Wise words…

🜍 "Mostly it is loss which teaches us the worth of things."
— Arthur Schopenhauer
(Schopenhauer was not a Freemason, but his reflections on the human condition often resonate with timeless Masonic principles.)

There is a lesson few of us want to learn...

Yet every one of us eventually will.

We rarely appreciate something fully while we still possess it.

A healthy body.

A faithful friend.

A loving spouse.

A respected mentor.

A thriving Lodge.

Even time itself.

It is often only after something is gone that we truly understand its value.

Freemasonry quietly prepares us for this reality.

It reminds us that life is temporary.

That every meeting may be the last one shared with a Brother.

That every handshake, every laugh after Lodge, every degree, every conversation carries a value we often overlook in the moment.

The greatest treasures in life are rarely recognized while they are ordinary.

They become extraordinary only in their absence.

Perhaps that's why the Craft encourages gratitude.

Not because gratitude changes the past...

But because it changes the present.

It teaches us to appreciate the Brother sitting beside us before his chair is empty.

To mentor the new Mason while he still seeks guidance.

To visit the elderly Brother while he can still answer the door.

To tell those we love that we love them while they can still hear the words.

Loss is a harsh teacher.

But it doesn't have to be our only one.

Wisdom allows us to recognize the worth of things...

Before we lose them.

That may be one of the greatest lessons a Mason can ever learn.

🔨 Cherish your Brothers. Cherish your family. Cherish the Craft. One day, today's ordinary moments may become tomorrow's most treasured memories.

08/19/2026

Most people think Freemasonry’s oldest history disappeared into legend.

In Scotland, one Lodge still carries a number that says otherwise.

Mother Kilwinning Lodge No. 0 traces its story back into the earliest documented years of organized Masonry and appears in the Schaw Statutes of 1599.

Not No. 1.

No. 0.

For centuries, Brothers have traveled to Kilwinning to stand in a place tied to the foundations of the Craft itself.

Long before modern Grand Lodges, printed ritual books, or the Masonic world we recognize today, Kilwinning was already part of the story.

Traveling Ashlar
Wear. Share. Travel.

08/19/2026

FYI. Good to see more outdoor degrees.

08/16/2026

The search for Light does not come with an expiration date.

He was 83 years old.

One of the most famous thinkers in history.

Then, just weeks before his death, Voltaire became a Freemason.

Not at 30.
Not at 50.
At 83.

That is a pretty strong reminder that the search for more light does not come with an expiration date.

Traveling Ashlar
Wear. Share. Travel.