Maine State Grange

Let’s bring a few things together…

After our hiatus last month, let’s come back to the teachings of the First Degree. I’ve mentioned in the past that when I occasionally visit Granges I somewhat enjoy asking if everyone is aware of the “rule” regarding not passing between the altar and the three Graces–a portion of the hall sometimes referred to as “sacred ground.” Most are. But the second and more important question is “Why is that so?” That question is often met with silence.

I am tempted to point out that not being able to answer the question is proof that the lessons of the First Degree have been forgotten. (And after this column is published, proof that either it wasn’t read or also is not remembered.)

The Master gives the answer after providing the “secret” instructions of the first degree. Note that the Master’s answer is not meant to be a secret.

It is also my duty to instruct you that to honor Womanhood and show our reverence for the Bible we respectively refrain from passing between the Altar and the station of the Graces when the Grange is in session, except as prescribed in the Manual.

Master, to candidates during the First Degree

So now you know. It’s easy to remember: the key words are reverence and respect. But wait, there’s more!

You are now Laborers and Maids in the First degree of our honorable Order. The salutation of this degree places Faith in God.”

Ibid

Does this “ring a bell?” We repeat the salutation, too often robotically without remembering that the roots of the salutation are found in the lessons of the Degrees! (To see how robotic it may have become, try reciting it while seated, without the hand movements. “A Patron places…”)

It should also be interesting that having paid homage to Womanhood, the three Graces next offer important instruction to the candidates. Ceres reminds us to save “the best seed” as a symbol of Faith in a promised reward. Pomona speaks of the “products of the earth” as “food [which] tends a healthy and refined temperament, both of body and of mind.” Flora speaks of flowers as making life pleasant and teaching us that there is another and a better world. Combined, these lessons provide a complete cycle both in nature and in life–seeds, flowers, fruit.

The scene of the First Degree is a farm in the springtime. As I write this, we have just a week of spring left before we officially begin summer. Additional symbols of spring are childhood and seeds. New beginnings with a promise that the cycle will repeat itself. Have faith!

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.

Growth might be painful

Let’s depart–somewhat–from our review of the First Degree to think about the following quote.

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger than we were before.

Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant.

But what is most unpleasant is not knowing what is happening. Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be… for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.”

Alice Walker in Living by the Word: Essays

I wonder if Alice was a Granger at one time because she’s adopted nature as symbolic of important things we can learn from it! I’ve written before that you can’t become a butterfly unless you’re willing to stop being a caterpillar. But it’s also true that you can’t become a flower or plant unless you’re willing to stop being a seed.

The idea of the weight of the earth and the hard shell surrounding us is very real, isn’t it? Something has to happen in order for us to break that shell and push through the weight on top of us. Sometimes it’s the pain itself! “I’m tired of living inside this shell down here beneath the earth in the darkness. I want to break out and push through to live in the sunshine.”

You can’t become a chicken unless you’re willing to stop being an egg. It may be hard work but you have to break the shell you’re in.

While there is still much uncertainty, there seems to be general agreement that we are “coming out” of the darkness created by COVID. Nature can encourage us to think of it as having been a seed or an egg. There are some cracks developing in the shell surrounding us as individuals and as Granges. It would be too easy to recoil from the light that enters through that crack. We’ve become accustomed to the darkness.

It may be comforting to talk about returning to normal but it may also be limiting. We may in fact be “in the process of change, of actually becoming larger than we were before.” I challenge you as an individual and in turn as a Grange to look to the lessons of nature. But remember this important point: unlike nature, we aren’t genetically predisposed to becoming a chicken or a flower or a plant. We have the amazing ability to become–to create–who and what we become.

It’s time to start pushing against that shell. Strive for the sunshine and be the person and the Grange you want to be.

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.

Begin Anew

In the previous column, we looked at the chief objective of the Grange as defined in the First Degree. It was not a coincidence that I have been posted the Declaration of Purpose in a series that seemed fitting for Grange Month. Purpose is important. Some years ago, a client of mine attended a weekend retreat featuring a nationally famous speaker who truly could get people excited. Some may remember Tom Peters and his first book “In Search of Excellence.” My client bought into that even before he headed to the seminar. And he had a great weekend. Tom Peters had the ability to whip an audience into a frenzy. His message was timely.

My phone rang early Monday morning. It was my client calling. He related how great the weekend had been and admitted he was “fired up” more than ever. But it didn’t take him long to get to the real reason for his call. “I’m sitting here at my desk with all this energy, but I don’t have a clue what to do.”

We brainstormed a few ideas so he wouldn’t lose momentum, and I scheduled a visit the following week. Ron was a very bright man—he’d built his company from the ground up, and it was quite successful. He was searching for excellence, but he recognized that it can be challenging to turn rhetoric into specific tasks. The First Degree recognizes that as well.

The Overseer has further explained the Grange’s purpose using symbolism that includes the fact that the First Degree is symbolic  of springtime on the farm “when all Nature is bursting into the newness of life.” Becoming a Granger should be similar. Much as my client felt energy and excitement, we should be bursting into the newness of the Grange Way of Life.”

The candidates remain at the Lecturer’s Station, where they have been again reminded of the “first and highest object of our order—to develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood.” The Chaplain’s charge uses plowing and tilling to introduce the importance of wisdom and understanding. The process by which the blindfolded candidates make their way to the Overseer is deliberate and well planned. The Assistant Steward warns them of the “worst enemies to progress—ignorance, attended by his companions, sloth, and superstition.” In today’s terms, “Wake up and smell the coffee!”

While there is much good counsel from the Overseer, let us especially note that the Overseer suggests several tools—a memorandum book, a knife, and a pencil. I chuckled a bit at the idea of how I might have advised that client if back then I knew the lessons of the First Degree. “Ron, the first thing I want you to do is get a notepad, knife, and pencil.” When he asked why, I’d have explained, “Note down new and useful ideas that come to you that they not be lost; for new ideas are the material with which progress is made. The knife is used to prune a straggling branch, to cut off the nests of insects, or to cut a plant whose nature you may wish to study.”

Yes, there is more symbolism, but it’s timeless counsel. And I would suggest to you that as we are now literally entering spring and figuratively some encouraging newness with the pandemic the Overseer’s last sentence to the candidates is our “closing thought.”

“In this degree—your Spring season in our Order—begin anew the acquisition of knowledge.”

Perhaps the best place to begin to develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood is with ourselves. Are you ready with your notepad and knife?

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.

Is It Test Time?

“I never really understood the connection between the Grange and agriculture,” was a comment I heard from a member recently. I was both surprised and not. On the one hand, that connection can be complex and, at times, overwhelming. But on the other hand, it’s also basic and helpful.

One reason we often miss that connection is that we aren’t reminded of it often enough. When is the last time you attended or participated in a degree day? Well, you’re going to if you keep reading. We only have time to scratch the surface but let’s start with the First Degree and listen to some of what the Master teaches at the outset. I have added some bold print for emphasis.

“The ceremony you are about to witness is to introduce you to the Ritualism of the Grange. There is far more to the Grange than Ritualism. The underlying philosophy of the Grange is portrayed by the oldest and most successful method of communication known to man—the use of symbols…”

It is important to note that this a lesson for candidates, people who, for various reasons, have decided to join the Grange—it is not an explanation of the Grange to someone who is unfamiliar with it. That’s why it sounds backward. Someone unfamiliar with the Grange should be hearing the “far more to the Grange than Ritualism” first. The Ritual was always meant to play a supporting role.

To fully appreciate that point, would you advertise an open house at your Grange so folks could “Come to see what we do” and then conduct the degrees? I hope not.

But we could, with a little effort, find in the degrees some information that would be useful during an open house. Listen to what the Master has to say in the very next paragraph.

“The chief objective of the Grange is to build a better and higher manhood and womanhood, and to develop a mutual respect and concern through brotherhood.”

Could it really be that simple? Remember, the degrees are for people who’ve decided to join. The Master is reminding them (and others attending) that they have joined to help build a better and higher manhood and womanhood, and to develop mutual respect and concern through brotherhood. If we jump ahead to the Overseer’s greeting to the candidates, there’s a clear connection.

“Additional laborers and maids are needed for work in the field and household, and we accept you as willing workers, now in waiting for the tasks to which you will be assigned: For in our fraternity there is work for all, and the idler has no place among Patrons of Husbandry.”

Here’s a place where we need to understand symbolism because the Overseer is suggesting a comparison and using symbolism. To paraphrase, “As we work together to build and improve our collective lives with mutual respect and concern, it’s like working in the fields and homes. There is lots of work for us… we are united by our objective and will work together fraternally.” (Fraternally means friendly or brotherly. It suggests a common purpose or interest—we’re not fraternal just for the sake of being fraternal!)

Granges—any organization, really—gets in trouble when they lose purpose. Ironically, one of the hazards of ritual is that it becomes a habit and is done without purpose or thinking. The founders didn’t form the Grange to “do the ritual.” The Master and Overseer make that clear at the outset of the first degree—if we listen. It should be hard to miss, actually, because one of the very next things we hear from the Lecturer is a reminder that “The first and highest object of our Order is ‘to develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood.’” If you are a member who celebrated the degrees, you heard that three times in the first few minutes.

When I’m teaching adults I often say, “If you hear me repeat something three times, that might be important—maybe even a test question.” I suspect the authors of the degree work were thinking the same. We don’t, unfortunately, test candidates on what they learn during the degrees.

Or maybe we do—just not in a traditional manner with questions. If we understand the chief objective of the Grange, the test is how relevant we are to our communities and how actively we are pursuing and achieving that objective.

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.

This article is reprinted with permission from Good Day! Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 4, Winter 2020-21. You can download the actual pages from the magazine for printing. For additional information about subscribing, click the button at the end of this article.

Is It About Social Distancing or Hope and Perseverance?

Thanks to an early December winter storm, we were without power for several days. The Internet was unavailable. We felt quite “socially distanced” in nearly every sense of the words since snow piles and bent birches were blocking our driveway. We couldn’t get out. Not much is getting in. In a perhaps odd way,  we do not feel trapped. Possibly because of the limitations  already  imposed  by  the pandemic, this seems like merely “more of the same.”

For the past nine months, life seems to have been about what we cannot do. It’s been easy to forget that we should know better than to get trapped into thinking that way.

So as I sit “sheltering in place” in forced darkness, I find an opportunity to remember that many of the lessons of the Grange help us maintain perspective.

We are resilient and remember the words of the Fifth Degree, encouraging us to “hope and persevere.” Since many Grangers tend to be traditionalists, we find returning to oil lamps and the woodstove somewhat comforting and simplifying.

Admittedly, it’s a journey we’d prefer to make by choice.

But in a similar way, returning to the teachings of the Grange can be comforting and simplifying. Perhaps sitting next to an oil lamp and listening to the woodstove snap and crackle contributes.

Those sounds are less distracting than the beeping and buzzing of a smartphone or the laptop. Heck, I don’t even need to walk to the mailbox at the end of the driveway since it’s not accessible.

Nature prevails.

Sometimes that creates inconvenience, but it’s also a comforting truth.

Spring follows winter, just as summer follows spring. Sun follows rain. Life begins and ends and sometimes takes a different shape.

Growing up in New England, I learned a long time ago that “fighting” nature is not the way to go. As a child, big snowstorms meant no school — something we couldn’t do. But we were more focused on what we could do — sleep in, go out sliding, and building snow forts and people.

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing,” is a mantra often repeated by Scandinavian parents who insist their children spend some time outdoors every day.

As schools in the United States have learned to shift to remote learning, some districts announced there would be no more snow days. I’m not sure that’s a good thing from my childlike perspective.

One of the benefits of being Grangers is that we learn the importance of managing our own perspective with nature’s help. Instead of fighting with her, we should learn from her.

Current circumstances may force us to remember one of the lessons of the First Degree. It is especially fitting that the Overseer uses the language of yesteryear.

“Courage then, and patience, when gloom broods over your pathway. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. To the upright there ariseth light in darkness, and the path of the righteous shineth brighter and brighter, unto the perfect day. Then shall the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain, and knowledge be revealed.”

In the language of today, please be patient. We will answer all emails in time, and we hope to return to our regular website posting schedule soon.

When contacted, the power company suggested we may have power restored within hours. I was a little disappointed they didn’t tell us to  “Hope and persevere.”

We’re still planning to fill the lamps, trim the wicks, and reload the woodbox.

We fill and trim because, without action, there is no hope. Without action, hope is just a way to pass the time until we’re done living. We can do more than sit in the dark and hope for the power company to arrive.

In the Second Degree, the Master provides a visual lesson with a few com kernels. “There is no object in which, to appearance, life and death border so closely together as in the grains of seed buried in the earth; but when life seems extinct a fuller and richer existence begins anew.”

For me, this was the most powerful and memorable lesson of my first experience with the Degrees. I remember so well watching the Master stir those hardened kernels in his hand and realizing that what we often view as an end is transformation.

Life finds a way.

Days end, days begin.

Light follows darkness.

We are granted the extraordinary privilege of observing, participating, and serving as stewards of the abundance of nature. “From this little seed we have, first the blade,  then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. So with the mind, when duly nourished with Faith and Hope.”

Look around, even in the darkness. Find some seeds — if not for your garden in the spring, then for your mind during these days that seem dark.

Even prior to the pandemic, one of my favorite things to do this time of year is to stroll during a snowstorm, particularly at night. It’s oddly comforting to experience the quiet as the accumulating snow deadens sound other than this gentle hiss of the falling snow. It’s as if nature is painting the landscape, bathing it in white, and covering everything so there are less distractions. There is less to see and hear while walking in a snowstorm, but so much to think and feel. An occasional animal track in the snow suggests that there are unseen fellow travelers who are… what? Are they in search of shelter or food? Or are they simply traveling because they can?

The snow is not their enemy, nor is it ours.

Like all of nature, the snow — if we choose to see it as such — gives us reason to hope and persevere.

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Amazon, or by contacting the author.

When we celebrate the degrees, there’s a natural tendency for us to get tired if they’re all done on the same day Of course, it wouldn’t make sense but I’ve occasionally wondered if once in a while we should do them in reverse! Whenever I decide to review them, I sometimes do just that—I start with the Fourth!

So let’s do that because there’s one particular section of the Fourth Degree that offers some amazing wisdom and ties some things together. It starts with the candidates receiving this advice from Ceres.

Brothers and Sisters, my tribute is the seed corn. Have FAITH. Faith in the spring of the year and the springtime of life. Even as little children have faith in their parents, so should we have faith in the great provider. We prepare our fields and plant the seed having faith in its resurrection.

And then Pomona admits she probably doesn’t need to say this.

I need not prompt you to nurture HOPE. Hope is the heavenly light that gilds our labors. Were we deprived of that source of consolation, life would indeed be dreary. When you see the blossoms open in the early summer hope is there for the luscious fruit. The labors of the husbandman and matron encourage hope at every turn. Let the fruit blossoms be to you an emblem of hope.

Then Flora teaches.

Let flowers be to you an emblem of CHARITY. In kind words and deeds dispense charity, as freely as Flowers do their perfume, and as generously as they cover all God’s footstool. Beautify and adorn your homes with Flowers. The home that is thus made fragrant and cheerful is prepared to be the abode of sweeter affections and more radiant virtues.

You may find yourself humming the tune “Faith, Hope, and Charity… that’s the way to live successfully…” But we’re not quite finished. The master is going to add a capstone.

Let the agate it be to you an emblem of FIDELITY. May your principles of manhood and womanhood be as firmly impressed as the lasting colors in the stone , and may our friendship be as firm as the stone itself.

There’s of course more but the Master quickly teaches the salutation of the Fourth Degree.

“A good Patron places faith in good, nurtures hope, dispenses charity and is note for fidelity.”

Do you see the pattern here? One of the often unnoted beauties of Grange Ritual is the way so many things tie together. So let me suggest an idea for you. I plan to ask the Master to allow me to do this as part of our next meeting or you can do it right now all by yourself. Start by standing up. Begin the salutation, “A good patron has faith in God…” Now stop, read and consider Ceres’ advice. Force yourself to pause and think about Hope. Do the same with Hope, Charity, and Fidelity.

And allow yourself a smile of satisfaction when you realize the power and beauty of the Grange teachings and Grange Way of Life.

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Amazon, or by contacting the author.