97th Annual Assembly of the Philalethes Society
Saturday, February 8th, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel
Arlington, Virginia
The Annual Assembly of the Philalethes Society will be held on Saturday, February 8th, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. The meeting agenda includes annual reports from the Officers and the consideration of all matters which may lawfully come before it. The meeting is open to every Masonic Week attendee. All members of the Philalethes Society in good standing (dues current for 2025) are considered voting members.
Philalethes Society Banquet
Friday, February 7th, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel
Arlington, Virginia
The Philalethes Society will host the Friday night banquet during Masonic Week 2025. The featured speaker will be Billy J. Hamilton, Jr., FPS, Past Master of the Texas Lodge of Research.
The topic will be “The Victorian Innovators.” Bro. Hamilton will focus on Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie and his influential correspondence circle, including Major Frances George Irwin, John Yarker, and William Wynn Westcott. The title is inspired by J. Ray Shute and his own circle of innovators, who would later play a similar role in American Freemasonry. We will examine their friendships, alliances, and conflicts in their own words through their personal correspondence. He will also discuss the diverse degrees and rites they worked on, from those accepted in mainstream Masonry today, such as SRIA, the Red Branch of Eri, and the Red Cross of Constantine, to those now considered clandestine, including the Primitive Rite and Sat B’Hai.
The banquet is open to all Masonic Week attendees and their guests. Tickets are $60 and must be reserved at the Masonic Week 2025 website: