The Culture of the Lodge: Advice on Growing a Strong Lodge

Two years ago when my Lodge was working toward being reinstituted, I was given some of the best advice by Eric Smith PGM while he was serving his term as Grand Master of Illinois. He told me that we had to choose the “Culture of the Lodge”. What does that mean? Shouldn’t joining in arms under the umbrella of Odd Fellowship be enough? If that were so, then fans of sports wouldn’t have a favorite team to rally behind or lovers of the arts have a preferred style. It would be like going to the awkward family reunion where you don’t have anything else in common with your kin than a name or blood and everyone just makes polite small talk.

Stick Cluster

Chains of Bigotry

Lessons and Charges From the Odd Fellows Companion, 1867, page 78-83 Updated language and syntax. Edited. Odd Fellow…go forth as a leader in the cause of the oppressed. Under such a cause, you may attack– with power and effect– the high, thick walls of Prejudice which shuts us away from our fellow humans; you may […]

Artwork: Reworking Old Images. Vol I.

Several years ago, I acquired this cast iron trivet/plaque. Despite the damage to the dove and the rough appearance I had fallen in love with this depiction of the heart in hand. It gave the appearance that the hand was giving the heart over, while still protecting it in its gentle embrace, like cradling a small bird. It is a simple yet powerful image. The bearer is both thoughtful and generous, careful yet ready to aid others. As Odd Fellows, we cannot just help anyone who comes to altar of aid.

All Seeing Eye

I won’t go into the meaning of the all seeing eye for Odd Fellows, but I will say that this symbol is everywhere these days: on clothing, as graffiti tags, as art, etc. So how is this symbol perceived by modern culture? Mostly, it seems to be seen as a representation of oppression. It represents […]

Loving People

Friendship

Temple Of The Odd

A very cool and creative video advertising a Halloween gathering for an Odd Fellows lodge.

UNLOCKING THE TRUTH

The Many Ways To Study Odd Fellowship

In days gone by we studied Odd Fellowship from books and the ritual. And today, we should be doing the same thing. But there are additional platforms we can use to study our principles that are adaptations from back in the day. We can also learn about our principles from those who are not Odd […]

Odd Fellowship in Popular Culture

In a way, Heart in Hand is a reflection of popular culture. Maybe it’s obvious. It should be. While making us more aware of our past it must even more importantly make us aware of our “now,” and our future. As your Conductor began working through material for this blog, he became interested in how […]

Odd Fellows Local 151 recorded by R.E.M.

Odd Fellows Local 151 Picked up this information from a webpage regarding the lyrics of this song recorded by R.E.M.–Conductor “…Peter Buck said that the “Oddfellows” were a social organisation, “just like the Mooses or the Shiners”, with lodges all over Athens. He also explained that the song was about the old winos who lived […]