Trouble At The Top -by Toby Hanson PGM, PGP (WA)

I’ve heard so many stories from new members who have to battle older, more entrenched members who have grown complacent and no longer care to follow the Code or their jurisdictional constitution. While I can and do empathize with those who have carried the burden of keeping a charter on the wall for many years, their actions are often detrimental to the survival of the lodges they have worked so hard to preserve.

Join or Die -by Mason Wolf

And there definitely is hope! Because as a country, we’ve been here before. At the beginning of the 20th century, we were dealing with many of the same issues that are facing us today, and rather than give in to despair and watch our democracy collapse, we instead started turning toward each other, and away from the isolation and hyper-partisanship of the Gilded Age. We started clubs and joined them, in huge numbers, and in the process, we created a more inclusive and nurturing society.

Issuing Member Benefits in the Modern World -by Paul Mitchell, GUOOF

Long ago one of the reasons our Fraternity was one of the biggest was the issuing of member benefits. Lodges provided benefits for Sickness, Death, and Funeral costs. Most Lodges today have not issued benefits in years. There has been discussions lately about changing that.

How We Saved The Lodge In Wenatchee

Everything seemed like it was going along well for Prosperity Lodge #301…. until Covid reared its ugly head. That wasn’t the only problem, however. Personality conflicts and disputes over the meeting time and other issues started tearing the lodge apart. When the meetings stopped in March 2020 the lodge looked like it was done for.

Burying the Dead- by Kaitlyn L. Osman

In the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), we have several mission statements. The one I am personally drawn to the most is “Bury the Dead.” In modern times, this mission has somewhat fallen wayside. However, I believe by using the international Odd Fellows platform to help spread awareness about the importance of burying the dead, as well as utilizing all the modern options available, we could completely revolutionize the death industry.

Growth Mindset -by Toby Hanson PGM, PGP

The hand-wringing keeps coming up: young people just aren’t joiners; nobody wants to be an Odd Fellow anymore; we don’t have the members we used to. But is that an accurate picture of Odd Fellowship and does it take into account the huge potential for growth going forward?

Rethinking Role of Chaplain -by Billy Sanderson and Eric Bramble

Brother Eric Bramble is perfectly positioned to use his special personality and FLT tuned mind in role of Chaplain…When he finishes his devotion to the principles of Friendship, Love and Truth is so strong, and crystal clear that there are moments when his own emotions strike him in the heart producing a flutter in his voice followed an “Amen” shouted by a brother in the room.

Promoting Odd Fellowship -by Toby Hanson PGM, PGP

In my musical career, if nobody knows what I do or how to get ahold of me, nobody will hire me. The same thing applies to Odd Fellowship. If nobody knows who we are or what we do, nobody will be filling out applications to join. Following that analogy, we should promote Odd Fellowship. That brings up a couple of questions, though: what exactly are we promoting? To whom? If the promotion is successful, how can potential members get in touch with our lodges? Each level of the Order can have a positive effect on our promotional efforts as long as we coordinate those efforts at every level.

The Initiatory Supreme Being Question: Esoteric, Philosophical, and Religious Considerations -by Vincent st. Clare

An important question is asked of candidates attempting to join I.O.O.F. lodges before they attend their Initiatory degree ritual, the ritual that will prospectively make them into members of the lodge which is providing the degree. This question regards their belief in a supreme being, and in this essay I’d like to examine this question and all of its terms and see if we can’t tease out some esoteric, philosophical, and religious speculations, considerations, and thoughts on the matter.

Reflections from Sovereign Grand Lodge -by Toby Hanson

Having just attended Sovereign Grand Lodge in Cincinnati, Ohio, I’ve had the opportunity to get an idea of what some of the future trends are that will be emerging in Odd Fellowship. The first thing I observed is that there are several places in Odd Fellowship where exciting things are happening. People are wanting to be a part of those lodges. Growth is happening.

Wandering In The Wilderness – by Toby Hanson, Sovereign Grand Musician

If you’re reading this and you’re an Odd Fellow who has taken your Degrees (and remembers them) then you no doubt see the parallels between my experience on the road as a musician and what we teach in our Degrees. The idea of our Degrees is to try and simulate that very experience I had in my time of crisis while on the road playing music. Leaving the safety of home can be dangerous, whether you’re flying down the interstate highway with other musicians from town to town plying your trade or you’re traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho on foot.

Anarchist, Thelemite, Odd Fellow: A Conflicted Initiate (and an Account of the Initiatory Degree) -by Vincent St. Clare

This initiation also had a certain character to it given that I am a confirmed Minerval (0°) in Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), another secret society and fraternal order, and a baptized Thelemite and member of its eclessiastical arm Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, the Gnostic Catholic Church. The fact that I assent to many of the ideas put forth by the receiver or writer of The Book of the Law, Aleister Crowley, and the novel ideas inherent to Thelema and the New Aeon, both meshed and clashed in interesting ways with what I discovered about Odd Fellowship.