On October 19, 2013, Most Worshipful Brother Norman J. Mick granted a dispensation to form Alembic Lodge as his first act as Grand Master. The new Lodge’s seventeen founding members came together from eleven lodges and three Masonic districts. Alembic Lodge will meet on the first Monday of the month at the Cincinnati Masonic Center.
In 2012, discussions about forming a new Lodge began in Club 32, the private lounge at the Cincinnati Masonic Center. Numerous evenings were spent in conversations about Freemasonry. These talks eventually involved subjects such as the roots of the fraternity, Lodge culture, and Masonic education, and as more ideas flowed, thoughts became prefaced by, “Wouldn’t it be great if there were a Lodge that …”
“Alembic Lodge is focused on camaraderie, ceremony, and charity: building meaningful friendships, performing our fraternity’s work as impressively as possible, and caring for each other and the community at large,” explained Ben P. Rosenfield, Alembic Lodge’s first Worshipful Master. “If that sounds like we’re going back to the basics, it’s because we are. These three areas are where Freemasonry truly excels. Concentrating on them will enable us to provide enlightening, engaging, and memorable experiences for members and candidates.”
What’s in a name? The alembic was a scientific apparatus that was used to distill, refine, purify, and transmute materials (turning lead into gold, for example). Symbolically, one could say that as Masons, men are purified through the alembic of Freemasonry and, through it, are given the tools to turn the aspects of themselves that are lead into gold.
