The Grand Orient of the United States of America : A Modern Masonic Experiment ?
the organisation for the ‘ Generation X Masons ’ of the new Millennium . The lodge seems to have faded away around 2013 and according to Peace , donated the lodge furniture and regalia to the local regular Sandy Springs Lodge .
Lodge Emeth No . 8 was based in Phoenix , Arizona and was led by Stewart Evan McGee , who was also chairman of the GOUSA membership committee , the lodge being filed as a Non-Profit company in Arizona on the 23 rd May , 2008 . 18 Details of the lodge are scarce , with none of the GOUSA members I interviewed recalling much about it . Despite this , Krispen Hartung mentioned he was a ‘ virtual member ’ of the lodge before going on to start Praxis Lodge in 2009 . It was also stated in the minutes of the November 2008 meeting of the GOUSA Executive Board that :
‘ Lodge Emeth # 8 has been released by Lodge Euclid # 3 due to a report from the Brethren of Lodge Emeth of the achievement of reaching the required minimum membership for lodge status . This has been communicated to the Executive Board and therein voted upon . The vote was positive and Lodge
Emeth # 8 has been received as a just and perfect lodge of the Grand Orient of the United States . The Grand Secretary ( Brandt Smith ) has been directed to communicate this information and decision to the Brethren of Lodge Emeth # 8 through the appropriate offices .’ 19
Indeed , McGee was close to some of the members of Euclid Lodge , and it seems that after Lodge Emeth left the sphere of GOUSA around 2010 , McGee got involved in co-masonry , sponsoring a co-masonic lodge in Phoenix , Arizona , called Rose of Venus Lodge . 20 Stewart McGee passed away in 2014 and other members of the lodge cannot be traced .
Regulus Lodge No . 9 was an early lodge which , along with Sirius Lodge , formed the internet-active backbone of the United Grand Lodge of America . Regulus operated in Birmingham , Alabama and included Aaron Peavy and David Cooksey as core members . It comprised of the handful of Freemasons that had left the Grand Lodge of Alabama after the racism row , the Masons firmly embracing the UGLA in its early stages . According to a blog post in 2008 however , the lodge admitted they
18 Emeth Lodge , Number 8 , GOUSA , was filed as a Non-Profit company on 23 rd My , 2008 , File Number 14523109 , the Registered Agent being Stewart McGee , the company ’ s principle address being 3217 E Shea # 475 , Phoenix , Arizona 85028 . A second principle on the record was Kristopher Ridenour , also from Phoenix , Arizona .
19 The minutes of the GOUSA Executive Board meeting , dated November 2008 . Given to the author by Aaron Peavy .
20 Details on Emeth Lodge are indeed scarce , and not much exists as an internet archive or in the actual archives of GOUSA . However , this particular blogpost makes mention of an event after the lodge had left the sphere of GOUSA , indicating that Stewart McGee had become involved in co-masonic projects , with hints that McGee had become involved in working with the International Masonic Order of Delphi : <
http :// sandiegofreemason . blogspot . com / 2010 / 06 / emeth-lodge-rose-of-venus . html > [ Last accessed 3
rd April , 2020 ].
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