Dear Brethren,

Due to the increasing concern for the health and safety of our Members and attendees the decision has been made to cancel the conferral of the 4th & 14th Degrees that was scheduled a few weeks from today on November 21st in Portland.

I am very sorry to be the bearer of this news, I know that many of our prospective candidates are anxiously awaiting the next opportunity to join the Scottish Rite and I along with all our ritualists are looking forward to a time we will be able to perform our beautiful degrees in one of our Fraternity’s oldest stately edifices designed for an entertaining and educational initiatory experience.

This was a difficult decision but the safety of our Members and candidates is our chief priority and not something we can take lightly.

I am hopeful that later this month we will be able to return to meeting in downtown. At this time it is still planned to hold our Elections and Installation of Officers on November 24th but that meeting may shift to an online Zoom meeting if safety concerns are still present. Please keep an eye out for updates on upcoming meetings.

Until then I hope we can remember the lessons of the 14th degree that “Perfect Elus are both bound and free: bound by their obligation and free from prejudice, intolerance and envy“, and the lesson of the Stoic Marcus Aurelius, “waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.“

Sincerely & Fraternally,
Bro. Nathan Neff, 32°, KCCH,
Personal Representative
Portland Valley, Orient of Oregon

Greetings Brothers,

I hope you are well and staying safe. With the current conditions in Oregon I am reminded of our lessons of the 18th Degree where we discuss the axiom Igne Natura Renovatur Integra, meaning, “All of Nature is Renovated by Fire,” which sages of antiquity connect to the greatest secret of mother nature, that of universal regeneration.

To the matter at hand; at this time we have 10 Brothers that hope to set out on the expedition to summit South Sister on the weekend of September 25-27; to that end so far they have managed to accumulate $2,500.00 of their goal of $4,000.00 in pledged donations to support the Portland Valley Temple Preservation Foundation. And contribute to its mission to generate the funds for restoration and preservation of your Portland Scottish Rite Temple.    

Although the current conditions in Oregon are unfavorable, the contingency of Brothers from our Consistory that determined to set out on this great cause are hopeful that the unfortunate situation across our State is alleviated in time to still achieve their goal.

If you are interested in participating in the hike or base camping please email Br. Sean McCallum, Master of Kadosh for the Oregon Consistory at consistory@portlandsr.com. 

If you would like to donate to the cause you can do so either through our PayPal account, by check addressed to the “Temple Preservation Fund” mailed to the Valley Office, or you can call the Valley Office at 503-226-7827 to make a credit card donation over the phone. 

Please take care and try not to breath outside very much. 

Fraternally, 
Bro. Nathan Neff, 32°, KCCH,
Personal Representative
Portland Valley, Orient of Oregon

The Oregon Consistory No. 1 presents The Circular Throughout Two Hemispheres or the 1802 Manifesto by Right Worshipful Brother Adam Bayer, Past Master of Research Lodge of Oregon No. 198, Past Master of Portland Lodge No. 55, & Current District Deputy of District No. 4 of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of AF&AM of Oregon

In this presentation Brother Adam discusses the origins of the Scottish Rite from the mid-1700s up through when the Supreme Council announced itself to the Masonic world by publishing an exceptional document known as the Manifesto of 1802. Through this presentation RWBr. Bayer will expounded upon the relationship of the higher degrees of Masonry and the genealogy of the Rite from Illustrious Brother, Frederick the 2nd, King of Prussia, to Brother Etienne Morin and the establishment of the current Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commanders of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America. This talk is presented on behalf of Research Lodge of Oregon No. 198 to the Portland Valley of Scottish Rite.

Greetings Brethren,

The Grand Master has requested the Portland Valley cancel the event for next week that was to be held in his honor. If the opportunity to reschedule comes up the Valley will be notified.

In lieu of that event the Oregon Consistory No. 1 will present an online event via Zoom at 7pm on Tuesday the 1st, on The Circular Throughout Two Hemispheres or the 1802 Manifesto by Right Worshipful Brother Adam Bayer, Past Master of Research Lodge of Oregon No. 198, Past Master of Portland Lodge No. 55, & Current District Deputy of District No. 4 of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of AF&AM of Oregon

In this presentation Brother Adam discusses the origins of the Scottish Rite from the mid-1700s up through when the Supreme Council announced itself to the Masonic world by publishing an exceptional document known as the Manifesto of 1802. Through this presentation RWBr. Bayer will expounded upon the relationship of the higher degrees of Masonry and the genealogy of the Rite from Illustrious Brother, Frederick the 2nd, King of Prussia, to Brother Etienne Morin and the establishment of the current Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commanders of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America. This talk is presented on behalf of Research Lodge of Oregon No. 198 to the Portland Valley of Scottish Rite.

This event will be hosted via Zoom, for registered Zoom users, and via live streaming on the Orient of Oregon’s Facebook group on Tuesday, September 1st, 2020 at 7 o’clock pm, Brother Adam will be available afterwards for a Q&A. The Zoom event will start shortly before 7:00pm and be locked by 7:05pm. A video should be available of the recording from the event for those that cannot make it.

Please email officemanager@portlandsr.com with your membership info to get a link to join the Zoom meeting.

Brethren,

The role of the workman has been called and, one Master Mason, Brother Earl D. Swenson, 32°, KCCH, has not answered to his name. He has laid down the working tools of life and with them has left that mortal part for which he no longer has use. His labors here below have taught him to divest his heart and conscience of the vices and superfluity of life, thereby fitting his mind as a living stone for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Strengthened in his labors here by faith in God, and confident of expectation of immortality, he has been granted admission to the Celestial Lodge above. His Brethren mourn the passing of a great man and Mason.

Worshipful Brother Earl David Swenson, 32°, Knight Commander of the Court of Honour, was born on March 9th, 1923 in Boone, Iowa and passed to the Celestial Lodge in his 97th year on August 26th, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. He served in the United States Military and was Raised a Master Mason in at the age of 22 and maintained active membership for 75 years in the Fraternity. He was a member of Parkrose Masonic Lodge No. 179 A.F. & A.M. of Oregon where he served as Worshipful Master, and he was also a member of East Gate Lodge No. 155, and Beaverton Lodge No. 100. He received the Scottish Rite degrees on May 21st, 2005 in the Portland Valley in the Orient of Oregon; he was a Knight of Saint Andrew and invested as a Knight Commander of the Court of Honour on November 2nd, 2013. He was also a Noble member of the Al Kader Shrine Temple in Wilsonville, Oregon. Brother Earl had a smile and energy that could brighten any room, he will be truly missed. Funeral and memorial arrangements are unknown at this time.

Click here or the image to open The Portland Valley Sentinel Volume 13 May-June, 2020

Additionally if you haven’t recently looked around the Orient Website you should take a look around the various page links at the top of the page. New pages have been added with History Articles and Educational Papers, as well as new pages for both the Orient’s Charities and each Valley has also had content added to their pages.