The Modern Odd Fellow's Guide
Think of your lodge now. Being a member for 20 years will have many ups and downs; good seasons and not so good seasons. Are there members in your lodge who have been “life-long fans”? Get them to tell you why their fandom has survived. Could you be a life-long fan of your lodge too?
Read More Being a Fan of Your Lodge by Billy SandersonI have often been asked if I consider myself to be more of a traditionalist or a reformer when it comes to Odd Fellowship. I actually don’t consider those to be a contradiction, however. Odd Fellowship itself has evolved considerably over the years, from the “convivial society” of the 1700’s through the height of ritual and symbolism during the 1800’s and the charitable and service focus of the 1900’s. I do not yet know what this century will bring, but I do know that there is much of value in our past.
Read More Traditional Odd Fellowship, by Michael GreenzeigerA little over two years ago, two Odd Fellows who were Facebook friends were discussing the lack of new Odd Fellow content online. So we cooked up a crazy idea of starting a blog together. We had no idea where we would go with it or if anyone would bother to read it, but it was worth a shot. So here we are two years later! Not wanting to toot our own horn and we know we aren’t the biggest blog in the world but all expectations were blown away. 50,000 views is a lot more than we ever expected to get.
Read More 50,000 Views in Two Years!The number we keep seeing is 200. We see this number from research conducted by Dedicated Members for Change (God bless ye!), and also mentioned by others on various Facebook posts and direct messages some of us receive. What’s the number 200? The consensus seems to be, that if your jurisdiction has fewer than 200 […]
Read More Is It Time For Your GL to Call It Quits? A Historical View.A terrific video about why we, in the 21st century, are considered by some to be the loneliest people in world history. This video interview has adult language.
Read More THE LONELINESS EPIDEMIC: Make Odd Fellows Your Tribe.To answer the title question, I’m not sure. Just tossing this idea out there, so I may change my mind. I first became aware of the notion of an Odd Fellows pledge period through the reading of the Davis Lodge #169 of California website. Davis Lodge #169 has new candidates go through a pledge period, […]
Read More Should Your Lodge Have A Pledge Period for Candidates?I started thinking about the physical and spiritual sacred space of the Lodge and how it acts to bring people together. During the Opening Ritual we physically seal the room by securing the doors and covering the windows from the outside world and its influences and we spiritually strip ourselves of who we are on the outside and take on the mantle of our respective office.
Read More Coming Together Where the World is Shut Out – New Art by Ainslie Heilich