Quest News is produced to introduce you to our staff and faculty and as well to pass on exciting information about the upcoming Esoteric Quest Conference and Post Conference Tour. Our main conference will explore The History and Renewal of the American Soul. The Quest will be taking place August 24-28 just outside of Woodstock, in Phoenicia, New York. The conference will be followed by an optional journey to Esoteric Upstate New York and the Hudson Valley where we will discover Iroquois Nations, Feminists, Utopians and 21st Century Esotericists. Please see http://www.esotericquest.org/ for more information.
Esoteric Quest Open House!
Wednesday, May 6 th , 2009 at 7:45pm
Join Conference Director, Ralph White and Conference Coordinator, Carrie Wykoff for an informational session about this year's Esoteric Quest . We will also have a special appearance by faculty member, Mitch Horowitz. Images from last year's Quest in Greece and Turkey will also be shared. Come raise a glass and see old friends and meet new ones!
Location: The NY Open Center , 83 Spring Street, NY , NY .
Please RSVP-212-219-2527 x 101 or at quest@opencenter.org
Join us on Facebook!
Be a part of the group and become a fan of the Esoteric Quest page on Facebook. You do not need to have a Facebook account to view the page, click here to view it. We have uploaded a lot of photos from last year's Quest to Greece and Spain as well as photos from many of the location we will be seeing this year! If you have a Facebook account you can join the discussions, ask questions and share photos as well as receive important conference updates!
Faculty Spotlight
Jay Kinney was formerly the publisher and editor in chief of Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions. He was the recipient of the 2005 Albert G. Mackey Award for Excellence in Masonic Research, conferred by the Scottish Rite Research Society. His forthcoming book is The Masonic Enigma.
You have a new book, The Masonic Enigma , which will be published soon by HarperOne. Can you tell us its theme and why you chose this topic?
Throughout my life I'd always been intrigued and puzzled by Freemasonry, but I'd not considered joining it because I was wary that I'd have to take a vow of secrecy that would make it difficult to discuss or write about it. Such things were a real issue for me during the years I was publishing Gnosis Magazine. As it turns out, Masonry's secrecy is overblown. What most people imagine are Masonic "secrets" are right out in the open - and often discussed at great length in Masonic publications that are hardly secret. The few things that Masons are obliged to keep secret are the exact wording of degree rituals, the modes of recognition between Masons (signs, grips, and passwords), and any personal confidences confided between Masons as brothers. If you consider the totality of Masonic history and symbolism, these details are a minuscule part of the big picture. However, when I was thinking of joining the Craft I looked around for a good comprehensive book that would tell me the truth about Masonry and I couldn't find one that satisfied me. So, several years after I become a Mason, I decided that perhaps I should write that book that I'd been looking for. To the best of my ability, The Masonic Enigma is that book.
We know that George Washington was a Freemason, but how much do we really know about the influence of freemasonry at the time of the revolution?
The myth promulgated by esoteric writers such as Manly Palmer Hall is that the American Revolution and the fledgling U.S.A. were greatly influenced by Masonry and that the new country was in many ways a Freemasonic project. The reality is, of course, considerably more complex than that, though no less interesting. Suffice it to say that there were Masons on both sides of the conflict during the revolution and one of my goals for my plenary at the conference is to help us distinguish between romantic myths and verifiable facts. Yes, Freemasonry was a factor, but it may not have been because the Comte de Sainte-Germain was beaming psychic messages to George Washington and Ben Franklin from the Inner Planes!
What did Freemasonry stand for in the world at large in both Europe and America in the late 18th and 19th century? How did it serve as a spiritual and political impulse in the established powers of the Monarchy and the Church?
One of the biggest obstacles to understanding Freemasonry is the notion that it is a unified and unchanging phenomenon - that no matter the country or no matter the century it is somehow always the same thing. Is this really true about any other human social organization or institution? I'd suggest it isn't. Modern Masonry emerged out of the late Renaissance and developed during the Enlightenment. So, right off the bat we are dealing with a movement that has included impulses in tension with each other. What's more, Masonry on the Continent and in the UK and its colonies developed in different directions. French Masonry, for instance, initially caught on in aristocratic circles, but after the French Revolution it took on a more "Left" and secular - even anti-clerical - flavor. Masonry as spread by the British was, in many ways, a prop for the British Empire, yet in America it also became a laboratory for self-governance and independence. And at the same time, beneath these various Masonries, there were certain esoteric ideas and concepts, embodied in the initiation rituals, for instance, that are well worth examining.
History also tells us there was a strong anti-Masonic movement that emerged in America in the first half of the 19th century. Why did this arise and what were its results?
It is one of the peculiar details of American history that the Anti-Masonic Party was the first "third party" in U.S. politics. It developed in response to a scandalous incident in upstate New York in
1826 where it was widely believed that irate Masons had murdered one William Morgan, an ex-Mason who was about to publish an exposure of Masonic rituals. Whether they did or not remains a controversy to this day, but the result at the time was a backlash against Masonry which lasted for at least a generation. American Masonry, ever since, has been at pains to affirm its integrity and uprightness, and it evolution during the 1800s tended in a direction of moral righteousness and piety that contrasted with its founding days in the 1700s when lodges met in the upstairs rooms of pubs.
What do you consider to be the state of freemasonry today? How much interest is there in the esoteric dimensions of the craft?
American Freemasonry today is at a cusp where it will either find a way to reinvent itself or it will follow the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias into oblivion. At its peak, 50 years ago, Masonry in the U.S. had over 4 million members and it got used to the comforts of being a mass organization - even if only 10% of the membership was really active at any given time. However, from 1960 on, Masonry has slowly shrunk, year by year, as the times changed and the Baby Boom generation declined to follow in its parents' footsteps. What we are seeing now is a new generation of young men who have been attracted to Freemasonry for a variety of reasons. Some are searching for roots in a largely rootless culture. Others are attracted by the Masonic ideal of a universal brotherhood. And many are intrigued, as I was, by the esoteric elements that are still to be found in Masonic ritual and symbolism. The esoteric aspect has always been a minority interest in the Craft, but it remains a vital opportunity for self-inquiry and learning. If Freemasonry survives its present challenges it will be because it comes to grips with it deepest aspects and learns to once again welcome those young men who knock at its door looking for that which it has preserved all these centuries: an initiation into a manhood aligned with the highest ideals of the Western Mysteries.
You were with us last year on Samothraki. Can you tell us some of your favorite moments from that "Esoteric Quest for the Mysteries and Philosophy of Antiquity"?
At the Samothraki conference, as with the previous ones I've attended, my favorite moments were often those chance fleeting moments that one could hardly predict. The sun going down over the Aegean Sea while waiting for the bus to take us to dinner. A conversation over breakfast at the hotel with another attendee sharing common interests. Meeting up with old friends whom one hasn't seen in years. A flash of insight triggered by a presenter. Tromping around ancient ruins going back millennia. What I've always found magical about the Esoteric Quest conferences is the uncanny ability of Ralph White and his trusty crew to create a total experience that both stimulates the mind and nourishes the spirit. Exploring the conference themes is always a pleasure and an education, but half of the experience that stays with me is the sense of community among participants, that sense that we are indeed on a quest together to discover the esoteric streams beneath the surface of western culture. I'm looking forward to this year's Quest just as much as any previous one.
At this year's Esoteric Quest Jay will be presenting a plenary titled " The All-Seeing Eye in America : Freemasonry's Role in American History" and a workshop "In Blavatsky's Shadow: America 's Unsung Mages"
Upcoming Events
Early Bird Price Deadline for Esoteric Quest Conference
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
For more information please call 212-219-2527 x 101 or see www.EsotericQuest.org
A Series of Talks on Inner America at the NY Open Center
The History and Renewal of the American Soul
As a prelude to the Open Center 's sum-mer conference An Esoteric Quest for Inner America, we are offering a series of talks on the deeper spiritual history of this country beyond the normal bounds of conventional religion. At a time when the potential for social, political and cultural renewal is great, join us for an investigation into some half-forgotten dimensions of American spiritual life.
The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky
Michael Gomes
A trailblazing pioneer of the mod-ern esoteric revival, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky brought together eastern and western traditions to help form a truly American synthesis. One of the first women leaders in esotericism, she opened up what had been a male-dominated field as no one before. Her editor, Michael Gomes, will provide a guide to her world, especially her New York days when she wrote her first book, Isis Unveiled , and her ideas about fulfill-ing human potential.
Date: Monday, June 1, 8pm
Michael Gomes , one of the world's experts on H. P. Blavatsky, has edited a number of her writings, including an abridgement of The Secret Doctrine to be published later this year. He is director of the Emily Sellon Memorial Library in New York .
The Psychic Highway
Mitch Horowitz
In the 19th century, a roughly 25-mile-wide stretch of land that snakes through central New York, a place so famous for its spiritual passions that it came to be called the "Burned-Over District," produced within a few decades Spiritual-ism, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Advent-ism, the Shakers, "spirit channeling," and American variants of Mesmerism, Utopianism and Suffragism. This evening explores the strange history and pro-found impact of the Burned-Over District on America and the world.
Date: Monday, June 8, 8pm
Made In America : The Hidden History of 'Positive Thinking'
Mitch Horowitz
From the essays of Emerson to the mega-sensation of The Secret , Americans have long been fascinated with the invisible powers of the human mind-especially the question of whether thought can shape circumstance. This talk explores the history of "positive thinking" as it developed in America by considering the fascinating and unlikely careers of pioneers from Phineas Quimby and Mary Baker Eddy to Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, and beyond.
Date: Monday, June 15, 8pm
The Transformation of Spiritual Movements in America in the 19th Century
John Patrick Deveney
When Spiritualism originated in upstate New York in the mid-19th century, there was very little in America to help students achieve personal spiritual development. By the end of that century, it was virtually impossible to open a magazine without messages from gurus, sages and masters. This talk discusses the transformation that led from Spiritualism, Mesmerism and antiquarian occultism to what we might call the occult New Thought amalgam with its ideas of per-sonal development and unfoldment of the innate powers in the human.
Date: Monday, June 22, 8pm
John Patrick Deveney is the author of Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian and Sex Magician and, with Joscelyn Godwin and Christian Chanel, The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor . He has published extensively on the early history of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy.
Ancient Secrets: The Roots of Western Esotericism
Leonard George, PhD
Our world is being swept by an urge for deep change, a call to explore the inner life. But this call to explore the esoteric dimension is nothing new. Our ancestors heard it too. For millennia they probed and mapped the soul's secret landscapes.In this special series we journey in imagination back to the schools and sages of Egypt , Syria , Greece and Rome .
The Quest of Corvus: Wisdom-Paths of the Ancient World
Rome , 300 AD. Imperial armies have unified the Mediterranean world but dangers lurk everywhere. The old answers seem tired and irrelevant. In this turbulent era, just as in our own time, many seek a sacred dimension. What would it have been like to set out on an esoteric quest then? This evening we follow the itinerary of Corvus, citizen of the Empire, as he surveys his spiritual options.
Date: Friday, June 12, 7pm
The Lynx and the Ibis: Philosophy and Hermetica as Wisdom-Paths The Wisdom-quest runs like a golden thread through the philosophical schools, from the Presocratics to the Neoplatonists. The lynx, thought to have the most powerful gaze of any creature, became the emblem for those who strove to see the Goddess of Truth who is veiled by appearances. In Alexandria , the Egyptian wisdom of the ibis-headed Thoth was fused with Greek philosophia into a vision of transformation under the aegis of the fabled Hermes Trismegistus. The disciples of Hermes learned how to find an inner shepherd who would guide them toward enlightenment.
Date: Saturday, June 13, 10am-1pm
The Pine-Cone and the Laurel : Mysteries and Oracles as Wisdom-Paths From Plato and Aristotle to Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, many of antiquity's deepest minds were initiates of the Mysteries. In these rites, held at holysettings like Eleusis and Samothrace , seekers privately enacted sacred myths in order to be reborn into the Divine Life. Mystery-elements found their way into the meditation known today as the Mithras Liturgy-a visualization of the soul's flight to heaven's edge to meet the god on high. Equally old and revered were the Oracles like the Delphic sibyl. In Late Antiquity the oracle-deities spoke from places like Didyma, Claros and Apamea, proclaiming the dawn of a new consciousness and teaching new ways to live a cosmic life.
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2:30-5:30pm
Leonard George, PhD , is a psychologist, educator, writer and broadcaster based at Capilano University in British Columbia . He has lectured across North America and Europe, and gave the opening address at the Open Center 's Esoteric Quest for the Mysteries and Philosophy of Antiquity on the isle of Samothrace . He has written two books and dozens of articles on such topics as Iamblichus and the Chaldean Oracles.
To register for any of the above events please call the New York Open Center at 212-219-2527 or see www.opencenter.org
Help Us Spread the Word:
Please help us get the word out about our upcoming conference. You can help in the following ways:
Postcards : we have some extra postcards announcing the conference. If you can help us distribute some or know of a good location for them please let us know by writing to: quest@opencenter.org .
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The Esoteric Quest is presented by The New York Open Center http://www.opencenter.org, is a non-profit holistic learning center offering evening events, full-day workshops, ongoing classes, advanced trainings, and graduate degree opportunities. 
