El Gran Oriente Tradicional de Bolivia

El pasado lunes 27 de agosto de 2018 (E.·. V.·.) tuvo lugar en Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, la Solemne Ceremonia de Instalación del Gran Oriente Tradicional de Bolivia y de su Gran Colegio de Oficiales, siendo su Serenísimo Gran Maestro el M.·. Il.·. H.·. Eduardo Eid Rodríguez.

Esta Potencia Masónica Soberana e Independiente fue Regularmente Constituida mediante Cartas Patentes expedidas a tal efecto por el Gran Oriente Nacional Colombiano para la práctica del Rito Francés o Moderno en sus grados simbólicos y del Rito Escocés Antiguo y Aceptado. Acto seguido, en posterior sesión, se pasó a efectuar la Magna Instalación del Supremo Consejo del Grado 33º del Gran Oriente Tradicional de Bolivia para la práctica regular de los 33 Grados del Rito Escocés Antiguo y Aceptado recibiendo Carta Patente del Supremo Consejo del Grado 33º del Gran Oriente Nacional Colombiano de manos de su Muy Poderoso Soberano Gran Comendador Milciades Osorio Díaz 33º, presidiendo el Comité Ejecutivo de este recién creado Supremo Consejo del Grado 33º y último del Rito Escocés Antiguo y Aceptado el Muy Poderoso Soberano Gran comendador Eduardo Eid Rodríguez 33º, Gran Maestre de la Orden.

Esta Obediencia destaca por su práctica en los Rituales y usos tradicionales. A tal efecto cuenta con una sección de Estudios e Investigación que muy eficientemente realiza una intensa labor de búsqueda, análisis e intercambio. Personalmente me adhiero a esta visión cualitativa y de formación en su membresía en la Orden que antecede a otras estrategias de crecimiento cuantitativo nominal, si bien, obviamente, cada Potencia escoge libremente las líneas a seguir que cree más óptimas y coherentes bajo su punto de vista.

Así pues, ya habiendo tenido el honor de colaborar en diversos trabajos académicos con el Q.·. H.·. Eduardo Eid Rodríguez, solo me resta congratularme públicamente de corazón por esta Solemne Instalación, y desearle Salud, Dicha y Prosperidad en este apasionante proyecto, abierto para hombres y mujeres de sus Valles y Orientes, donde es sin duda posible llevar a cabo la fusión entre Tradición y Modernidad con el fin de conseguir hacer de buenos seres humanos, mejores, y trabajar por una sociedad más justa, solidaria y comprometida ante los retos del siglo XXI.



Joaquim Villalta, Vª Orden, Gr.·. 9, 33º
Miembro de Honor del Grande Oriente Lusitano
Miembro de Honor del Gran Oriente Nacional Colombiano

In Memoriam: M.·. Il.·. H.·. John Slifko

Hoy siento una tristeza infinita por el fallecimiento del Muy Q.·. H.·. John Slifko. Transmito de corazón mis más sinceras condolencias y pésame a su familia y a los Hermanos norteamericanos. El Muy Ilustre Hermano John Slifko, MuySabio y Perfecto Gran Venerable del "Gran Chapter General of the Modern Rite for North America and the Caribbean", Secretario General de la "Unión Masónica Universal del Rito Moderno", nos ha dejado un legado y un ejemplo universal de trabajo y amor por la Orden. Quedo a la entera y total disposición para lo que sea menester. 

Rciban mi T.·. A.·. F.·. más sincero y afectuoso en este doloroso momento. Nuestro Q.·. H.·. ya ocupa su lugar en el Oriente Eterno.
Yo, personalmente, oraré por su alma con todas mis fuerzas.

Joaquim Villalta (Director de la Academia Internacional de la Vª Orden - UMURM)



Today I received word of the passing of one of my dearest friends, my most fraternal brother John Slifko.

Those who knew John knew he was no stranger to the world of Freemasonry. Those who did not know the man or his character may not have not realized that he frequently played a role behind the scenes to avoid controversy and to assure positive outcomes in any venture to which his name was attached. The path he trod was always guided by the highest ethics.

In his career he brushed shoulders and maintained relationships with some significant figures in American Cultural life. He maintained a communication with and interviewed Burl Ives, and was the personal secretary to Manly P. Hall for some time. He maintained close ties with people and organizations involved with Freemasonry and esoteric studies in Europe, North America, and Latin America.

John Slifko was an expert in urban planning and Freemasonry. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 1987 with a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies and Geography. In 1989, John Slifko received his Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and more recently received a Doctorate in Geography from the same institution. He served with Councilwoman Ruth Galanter from 1988 to 1989 as a Planning Deputy for Los Angeles International Airport. John also worked as a Legislative Aide and a Field Representative in Congress for eight years.

As Founder and Co-Director of the Roosevelt Center for the study of Civil Society and Freemasonry, John Slifko raised funds to support scholars and gave lectures, and tirelessly promoted the academic study of the fraternal organization of Freemasonry. He was a member of the Association of American Geographers, the American Historical Association, The John Dewey Society, and the Academic Society for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism. John Slifko volunteered for The Midnight Mission, which takes the homeless off of Skid Row and rehabilitates them into self-sufficient members of society. He contributed to the UCLA Foundation’s endowment, supporting the educational endeavors of the university.John Slifko was an active stock trader from 2000 to 2006, investing in green technologies.

In his spare time, he pursued the study of geographical mapping and exploration, as well as archeaoastronomy, the study of how past cultures understood the sky. He also participated in Healthy City, a California information portal that helps residents connect to health and social services and community data.

He was active in the quest to bring the Modern or French Rite to North America in recent years and instrumental in the work to bring about the foundation of the Higher Orders of Wisdom in North America and the Caribbean. It was in fact at his prompting that I chose to create the Hedge Mason Blog. He was active in the foundation of and the promotion of Project Awe, (Aesthetics of Western Esotericism) - Where Art meets Magic.

While he struggled with failing health against great odds over the last few years, he never dwelt upon his problems and continued to struggle relentlessly for those causes about which he felt passion and loyalty. He was a devotee of the Blessed Virgin and it was perhaps no surprise, as his wife Belinda noted, that he left this world on the day the Church celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15)

Freemasonry has lost a true crusader and a gentle soul to the Eternal East.

His family urges people who wish to do something in his memory to make donations to The Hirsberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research

Fuente de la noticia: The Hedge Mason, editado por el Muy Ilustre Hermano Eoghan Ballard.