When One Door Closes Another Door Opens

corey_brysons_adoption_into_delphi_1-200x300An Interview With Brother Corey Bryson

Many American Masons now know of the story of Brothers Corey Bryson and Duke Fortesque and their separation from the Grand Lodge of Florida. Both men were hit hard by having to leave Freemasonry.

But Bryson has gone from despair to joy in just a few short months. Sometimes when one door closes another door opens. And if you are observant and open to a new challenge then walking through that new door feels really awesome.

And that is where Bryson is now having just returned from Salt Lake City where he was adopted into Lodge Athena No. 2009 in the International Masonic Order DELPHI, mixed gender Freemasonry.

At one time in our history when the population was less mobile, Mainstream Lodges in each hamlet and village had a monopoly on the Craft.  But times have changed and so has our mobility.  But the biggest change has been the advent of the Information Age.  As Mainstream Masonry has squashed individual initiative, the free thinkers and has expelled far too many good Masons, alternatives to traditional Masonry are now available.

Now, whether new or discarded, male or female, Christian or not, Black, White, Red or Yellow, Americans can peruse the Internet and find Co-Masonic, Mixed Gender Lodges such as the International Masonic Order DELPHI, Prince Hall Freemasonry and others to choose from.  The monopoly of Mainstream Masonry is being broken and its arrogance thwarted.

Corey Bryson has found a new home and it is one he says he might have eventually gravitated to in time anyway.  He points to the non judgmental nature of Delphi, how open and unfettered the Masonic experience is when it’s not set up as a closed society.

Bryson explains that there is less focus on memorization and more emphasis on the meaning of the philosophy of Freemasonry.  Every newly initiated member receives a written copy of the degree and ritual for their own personal continued education.  Sometime later, they must present their “impressions” of their initiation to their Brothers and Sisters in Lodge.  Delphi Masons are required to think not just be a parrot.

Delphi uses Scottish Rite ritual rather than Preston-Webb.  This does make for some differences that former Mainstream Masons will notice.  For instance there is no cable tow nor exposed breast.  The configuration of the Lodge room puts the Senior Warden’s station in the North West. The connection between South-West-East forms a triangle. Delphi also uses the Chamber of Reflection.

The overall emphasis of Delphi mixed gendered Freemasonry, Bryson tells us, is on esoteric study and knowledge.  Delphi is more spiritually open, he says, and appeals much more to seekers than traditional Freemasonry.  It is far less a social club and much more a place of self improvement.

Bryson will be a member of Delphi’s latest U.S. Lodge in Tampa, Florida, Phoenix Triangle (UD).   There are 6 people who have already applied for membership.  They also have a place to meet.  Members of Delphi nationwide are now handcrafting brand new furniture for the latest Triangle.

For Corey Bryson a new day has dawned.  Before concluding my interview with him I asked him if this experience had changed him in any way.  He said that he was now far less cynical than he was just a year ago.  My faith in humankind has been restored, he said.  That means that for Corey Bryson the glass is now half full instead of being half empty.

Posted in Sojourners and tagged .

Fred is a Past Master of Plymouth Lodge, Plymouth Massachusetts, and Past Master of Paul Revere Lodge, Brockton, Massachusetts. Presently, he is a member of Pride of Mt. Pisgah No. 135, Prince Hall Texas, where is he is also a Prince Hall Knight Templar . Fred is a Fellow of the Phylaxis Society and Executive Director of the Phoenix Masonry website and museum.

16 Comments

  1. Welcome Bro. Corey to Delphi Freemasonry! You have a bright and promising future ahead of you! You can stand proud knowing that you were always a Mason in your heart! Again, Welcome Aboard!

  2. Clearly this is where he belongs, he should have started there and it was a serious mistake to admit him into standard Masonry in the first place. Our only hope for the future is to slash the membership to the “appropriate” in each “group and order.”

  3. People like JSA who insist on dividing the world into ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ never contemplate that they may be someone else’s ‘Them’. Remember no human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior neither traditional Masonry is the one and only. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.

    You did good Mr. Bryson!

  4. BROTHER C0RY BRYSON—GOOD FOR YOU—I HOPE THE BEST IN YOUR NEW DELPHI FREEMASONRY—-I LIKE THE STANDARD MASONRY—WHY I DONT KNOW—-AS JSA SAID—SLASH THE MEMBERSHIP—OK IM SLASHED—THAT I KNOW OF GOOD MASONS ARE LEAVING BY THE GROVES—LETS SEE WE HAVE 75 % OF MASONS IN ARKANSAS–THAT LIE-CHEAT–BIGEST COWARDS I HAVE EVER SEEN–FAT CAT POLITICANS—RIGHT NOW FOLKS HATE MASONS IN MY AREA—NO NOT MY FAULT—-IT MIGHT BE THE SLASHER HAS WENT A LITTLE CRAZY

  5. This is interesting. What is the relationship of Delphi Masonsry to Le Droit Humain/America Federation of Human Rights (AFHR)?

  6. Clearly this is where he belongs, he should have started there and it was a serious mistake to admit him into standard Masonry in the first place.

    Bigotry such as this has no place in Masonry of any form.

    This man was rejected from Masonry due to a religious bigotry in certain Masons, more especially, the GM, who hold an attitude which boils down to “Only Christians can become Masons … oh, and I guess the Jews, too.”

    I am lucky, that when i was confronted with such a situation, the Grand Lodge, and its Grievance Committee, recognized the attitude for what it was, and reversed the decision of a sitting WM.

  7. @ Brother Robert Shealtiel:

    The Order was founded in 1926, and was restructured in 1996, under the name ” International Freemasonic Order Delphi “.

    The first Mixed Lodge was founded in 1926, under the aegis of The International Mixed Freemasonic Order ” Le Droit Humain “, that resides in Paris. In 1996, the General Assembly of the Order unanimously voted its re-establishment under the separate name of “DELPHI”.

    Today, it exists and functions by law as an independent and self-governing entity, it follows the Great Freemasonic Constitution of 1786, according to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

    The main events that shaped the history of the ” International Freemasonic Order Delphi” are as follows:
    ◦1926: Foundation of the first Lodge in Athens under the name “Athina”.
    ◦1964: Foundation of the first Greek Freemasonic Federation.
    ◦1984: Foundation of the second Greek Freemasonic Federation.
    ◦1994: Foundation of Mixed Freemasonry in Bulgaria, Romania and Moldavia.
    ◦1996: Foundation of the ” International Freemasonic Order Delphi “, with its seat
    in Athens.
    ◦1996: Foundation of the “Great Mixed Grand Lodge of Greece”.
    ◦2000: Foundation of the “Grand Council of Perfection of Greece”.
    ◦2001: Member of “CLIPSAS”
    ◦2001: Founding member of the “Mediterranean Freemasonic Union”.
    ◦2003: Foundation of Mixed Freemasonry in the U.S.A.

    The Order’s objective is unhindered, effective and creative intellectual action, at the national and international level, through the activity of its members, so that the Freemasonic Ideals are spread in the World.

  8. @MP – I’m not surprised at all.

    Congrats to Brother Cory Bryson. Where American Mainstream Masonry fails, others Masonic Orders will happily fill the void. This only casts a positive image on them.

  9. @MP – Here we are again.

    Congrats to Brother Cory Bryson. Where American Mainstream Masonry fails, others Masonic Orders will happily fill the void. This only casts a positive image on them.

  10. Cory, I sincerely hope that this is the light you’ve sought. You’re a good man, and deserve the inner peace that this Order hopefully brings.

    Jay

Comments are closed.