Solvitur Ambulando will be making our annual August fieldtrip on Saturday, August 1st, 2009. This year, our society will be traveling to the Huntington Library near Pasadena.

The Huntington Library features one of the world’s greatest collection of American and British literature, as well as an impressive collection of art. It also features a world-class botanical gardens.

The trip will be leaving via carpool from the Lodge at 10:00 am, or you can meet us at the gardens itself. Following an afternoon at the Huntington, we will be dining at a local eatery.

Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $6 for youth.

Please join us for this wonderful event, and be sure to invite your family and friends.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
626.405.2100

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Bro. Juan Rocha will be delivering the lecture at the June meeting of Solvitur Ambulando, a talk on the subject of Sir. Gawain

Gawain (pronounced /ˈɡɔːwɪn/ or /ɡəˈweɪn/; also called Gwalchmei, Gawan, Gavan, Gauvain, Walewein, etc.) is King Arthur’s nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend’s development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He is almost always portrayed as the son of Arthur’s sister Morgause (or Anna) and King Lot of Orkney and Lothian, and his brothers are Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth, and Mordred. In some works he has sisters as well. Gawain is often portrayed as a formidable but brash warrior, fiercely loyal to his king and family. He is a friend to young knights, a defender of the poor, and a consummate ladies’ man. In some works, his strength waxes and wanes with the sun; in the most common form of this motif, his might triples by noon, but fades as the sun sets. His knowledge of herbs makes him a great healer, and he is credited with at least three children: Florence, Lovell, and Gingalain, the last of which is also called Libeaus Desconus or Le Bel Inconnu, the Fair Unknown. In later Welsh Arthurian literature, Gawain is considered synonymous with the native champion Gwalchmei.

Please join us for this fascinating look at one of the heroic characters of early literature and his connection to the ideals of Masonry.

Date: Friday, June 12th @ 7:30 PM
Location: Sunset Lodge, 1720 Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica CA
This event is open to the public

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Michael Wamback, a Past Master of Sunset Lodge and native of Nova Scotia will present a talk on the history and folklore of Oak Island at our May meeting.

Located just off the coast of Nova Scotia, the island is the site of the world’s longest and most expensive treasure hunt, which has spanned several hundred years.  Theories about what lies at the bottom of the famous “money pit” include everything from pirate treasure to Shakespear manuscripts.

In this fascinating look at Oak Island, Brother Michael will examine many of the popular theories and then focus on the possible Masonic connection to the mystery of the Oak Island treasure.

Date: Friday, May 8th 2009
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Sunset Lodge, 1720 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica CA

Please note: This event is open to the general public.

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The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers), were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organization existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages.

Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favored charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking, and building many fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

The Templars’ existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars’ secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order’s members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the “Templar” name alive into the modern day.

Our March meeting will feature a talk on the history of the Knights Templar.  This talk will be facilitated by Sister Victoria Waks.

Location: Sunset Lodge, 1720 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica CA
Date: Friday, March 13th 2009
Time: 7:30 PM
This lecture is open to the public

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Sunset Lodge #369 will confer the prestegious Hiram Award on one of our members.  Michael Wamback, a Past Master of Sunset Lodge and Adeptus Minor of Solvitur Ambulando will be presented with the award at a celebration to be held at Sunset Lodge on December 30th.  The celebration will be a “Maritime Kitchen Party” theme, and will consist of a meal of fish & chips, followed by the award presentation and entertainment in the Lodge Room.

We encourage our members to attend this event, to celebrate Micahel’s Masonic achievement.

Date: Tuesday, December 30th, 2009
Location: Sunset Masonic Temple,
1720 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica CA
Time: Dinner 6:30 PM and Program 7:30 PM
Reservations are required by December 20th, 2009
(310) 452-3943 or sunsetlodge@verizon.net

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Solvitur Ambulando will hold a curriculum development session at our December meeting.  The Society will break into two focus groups, with one group focusing on the Blue Lodge and the other on the Eastern Star Chapter.  This will be a continuation of the program started in 2008.

This event will give our members a chance to further develope ideas that will result in an increase in education about or orders for our candidates, as well as a chance to address individual issues in the Lodge and Chapter.

Due to the nature of this event, it will be open to members of Sunset Lodge and Ocean Park Chapter only.

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Solvitur Ambulando will be hosting our 1st annual festive board on Friday, November 14th @ 7:00 PM.  A pot-luck dinner will be served, followed by the awarding of degrees for this past year.

It has been a very successful 1st year for our Society, and we hope to see as many of our members present as possible to receive thier recognition.

This event will be open to members of the Society and invited guests only.

For more information, please contact Michael Wamback

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Our August meeting was a field trip to the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park. The Observatory was the vision of Griffith J. Griffith, who made a bequest to begin work on his vision for a public observatory in 1919. Thanks to the help of many civic leaders, Griffith’s vision became a reality. With construction completed, the Observatory was dedicated on May 14, 1935 and would receive over 70 million visitors, making it the most successful public observatory in the world.

As early as 1978, public and private officials recognized that the Observatory’s future would depend on a concerted effort to restore the existing building and expand it to improve the experience for the vast audiences who visited each year. Guided by a 1990 Master Plan, the City of Los Angeles and non-profit Friends Of The Observatory crafted a unique public-private partnership to renew the Observatory for generations to come. The building closed to the public on January 6, 2002, to begin this work. A world-class team of architects, exhibit designers, astronomy experts, construction workers, exhibit fabricators, instrument and equipment builders, and many others worked carefully and expertly for four years to return Griffith Observatory to the people of Los Angeles and beyond.

The members of Solvitur Ambulando visited the many exhibits in the observatory and were much entertained by the guides, who left all of us with a sense of humbleness and awe. A few of us even got to see the observatory’s tesla coil in action, invoking various references to mad scientists.

The hi-lite of our trip was the show put on in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, which traced the night sky through the eyes of primitive man, and then travels through the models of the universe created by Ptolemy, Galileo and Hubble. The show then presents us with the big bang, and reminds us that, as with all the planets in the heavens, we are all made of star-dust.

The day completed with a nice meal at Wolfgang Puck’s “Cafe at the End of the Universe”, and the chance to catch the spectacular view of the sun setting over Los Angeles.

This successful field trip was much enjoyed by our members, and promises to be only the first of many future outings for members of Solvitur Ambulando.

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It was decided at our May meeting that the Society will begin the work of developing a curriculum for candidates at our June meeting.  The Society will divide into two groups, one that will work on the Masonic Degrees and the other to work on the Eastern Star Initiation Ceremony.  The goal is to develop a comprehensive lecture series to further the understanding of our candidates after they have received their initiations.

Due to the nature of the subject matter, the June meeting will be closed to the general public.  Only Master Masons of Sunset Lodge and members of Ocean Park Chapter will be allowed to attend this meeting.

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