What makes a Lodge "Regular"?

Brethren,

I'm doing research for a lecture on "What Makes a Lodge Regular". Each member of my small lodge(about 50 members and the website has/uses limited resources and is managed by one of our "most experienced" brethren) has been asked to take a topic from a list and prepare a lecture for a lecture series. We will probably get about 15 different lectures from this exercise.

As mentioned my topic is explaining what makes a lodge "regular". I thought this would be a good side-topic from my usual. Is your lodge considered regular? What would make a lodge not "regular"? Do you have any examples of lodges that are not considered regular or under great debate?

I would really love to hear from the knowledgeable brethren out there on this topic. You can leave a comment here or send me an e-mail directly by using the link up in the left hand side that says "e-mail me". It's located right below the Most Watched eBay items.

I look forward to all your comments and wisdom.

Also I just started another blog on another topic... feel free to check it out Mobile Office Journal. It's for anyone working at home or on the road.... good for entrepreneurs also.

Masonic Clay Tavern Pipe Found in Shipwreck

I could help but post one more today. I found this great masonic pipe. It was found in a shipwreck. The post mentions the Atocha but I see no information to back-up that claim. If it was the Atocha it would be a real treat. The Atocha was a Spanish Treasure ship, was it not? To find an item such as this on a Spanish ship I can only imagine being a bit out of place... Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The pipe itself has the square and compasses on it.... I see the sun and an eagle with a shield on the other side. I find the eagle a bit odd as well but look forward to a more knowledgeable person to educate me a bit on whether this is truly out of place or perfectly proper the the claimed time-frame and wreck.
None the less this item is fascinating and I'd love to have it myself... but I will let my readers have this one if they want.

Click here to go directly to the eBay item

1862 Newspaper on eBay with interesting Masonic article

Great item today... I think it is a great read. Sure to intrigue many readers. It speaks of publishing the masonic ritual word-for-word. I'm sure this was quite an issue in the mid-1800's. The seller of the newspaper has scanned the article for our reading pleasure. You will have to skip through the article on the Mormon ball to get to the masonic article, however both are interesting. This seller specializes in many antique papers. I've snooped around his items before and found lots of interesting articles, such as reference to the War of 1812, WWII, the Revolution and even Pirates. I like these type of items because you can see how the news was reported at that time and it provides a different perspective than reading about it in text books and reference websites.

Take a look and let me warn you that reading these old papers can be a bit addictive.

Click here to go directly to the eBay item