I love history and figuring out the way things work, and i have noticed in many religions the things revolving around + acts are clockwise spinning to the right, like the prayer wheels you spin. I’ve also applied this to black and white with grey being neutral, and have noticed this separation of perception in middle eastern religions with men wearing white and women wearing black. I actually found this application to be more connected to religions still active today, but i see this as someone trying to get rid of their shadow in fear of what it might do to them, not having anything stable inbetween the burning light and frightening dark to hold onto. I know every religion wants the best for their people same as politics but they are always leaving another side out saying what these large number of people feal and believe isnt right make it go away and leave them without a path they can walk down. The greatest gift i feel we have received is the ability to essentially live an entire situation in our heads before we act it out. imagination is endless boundless and will take you any direction you want to go.

As all this was going i started remembering some letters i combined when i was 15 and first starting this theory. these letters were “i am” get a piecer of paper and pencil and write the capitol A upside down with the lower case m on top of it. it makes a heart and if you put a lower case i between them it makes a multilayer-ed heart, the dot would be the point of perception. Now i have actually seen this shape on Egyptian hieroglyphics. I found a few more fun things like this and i started noticing a pattern in which letters were flipped and which weren’t, and not only flipped but turned to the right or left as well. To start lets examine the shape “m” not being capitol and in the context of the heart it could look like two people lying down while looking at them head on. This would imply a emotion that happens outside of our conscious control or even something spiritual, but things in this category would be turned to the right. so write down the m on its side being turned to the right. Now we have the top of our heart and the beginning of our journey to what we need. go ahead write the “i” normal but touching the “m” so while your writing it gives the example of finding a point and working your way to the bottom of it. so when faced this dilemma of love and a need to satisfy the opposites wants you start seeing all the anarchy going on around you and now you have to find a way to get out of it. so to build thought in our imaginations would turn a symbol to the left this symbol being “A” for anarchy. Now write this down being turned to the left opposite the “m” completing the heart shape. Now we have the full picture of what we want and who we want it with now we just need how to get it done. coming to this conclusion would turn this symbol as a whole to the left being a new build of thought. Something trivial like how to tie your shoes or something physical like a house is accepted by mans thoughts and reinforced into the earth, this would be the initial reason were here being gravity pulling down and hence the reason for the “i” being just normal. Now we have our full heart with everything where we want it.

well thats perty much it I hope i didn’t make anyone too crazy :P. I got alot of notes on the stuff ive been working on and im sure ill be getting it out.

Thanks

A question I’d like to hear some opinions on:  when did you consider yourself “ready” to join an appendant body?  Obviously each man is unique & will feel differently about when and how much to go beyond the MM degree, I’m just curious what led everyone to decide it was time to become more involved that way.  (or, not involved, as the case may be)

Today my lodge had a fundraising breakfast and an officer from the local York Rite chapter/council made a point to introduce himself, tell me he was looking forward to participating in my raising, and would like to see me get involved with the York Rite and plugged their version of a one-day class coming up in the spring.

Personally I’d rather spend time learning Blue Lodge stuff well, sit in a few officer chairs first.  It’s not that the appendant bodies don’t interest me, it just feels too rushed for me.  I mean no offense to any brothers who chose to continue on right away.

I live in West Africa 10-11 months of the year as I run a charitable disaster relief and development organization as well as a security company. I know that Freemasonry has been active in West Africa for a very long time but I have no idea who or how to contact them in Sierra Leone or whether I should join in Massachusetts.

Can someone please help me get started? Thank you all very kindly.

As many of you know, we spend a lot of time on this Forum answering questions about conspiracies. Without trying to draw fanatics into the Forum, I do think that those interested in the Craft have a right to air their worries and hear the truth from actual Freemasons. Some of the moderators thought we should at least find a place for this topic until we have a better spot, so we’re starting it here.

We are not historians (although a few of us are trained that way), but if anyone has some specific questions they want to ask or theories they’ve heard that they would like debunked or verified, let’s use this thread to do it.

It would be great if we could keep this civil. Thanks.

Bob Heruska
Forum Moderator
Boston, MA

The question is sometimes asked, do Masons perform their rituals in Lodge from memory, and if so, why? The answer is Yes, all ritual work has to be done from memory; no one can have a book open in front if him and read from it in open lodge. There are a couple reasons for this.

Firstly, the ancient regulations prohibited, in the strongest possible terms, putting any of the secrets (which extended to the entire ritual) in writing. This is the reason why we today know nothing about what the ritual was like prior to 1730 when the 3rd degree was composed and added to the ritual. There are no records of the former ritual, or at least none have yet been found. This prohibition has since, to a greater or lesser degree, been somewhat relaxed in nearly all jurisdictions. There is hardly any Grand Lodge today which does not allow some kind of written text for the use of Lodge officers, and maybe candidates, to learn the ritual; but they have to memorize it and can’t use it to actually perform the ritual in Lodge.
Secondly, the effect of the ritual on the candidate is thought to be much more impressive if delivered from memory rather than allowing the officers to refer to a script. It’s also handier, since the officers are often moving around the lodge, not just standing or sitting in their places. This makes perfect sense if you imagine seeing a stage play where the actors have a script in their hand and consult it to see what their lines are.
Thirdly, we believe that requiring the officers to memorize the ritual, and requiring candidates to memorize at least a summary form of it, ensures that they have the lessons of the ritual as firmly impressed on their minds and hearts as is possible.
Fourthly, since nearly everyone requires some assistance in the learning process, a fraternal bond is created among those who have to work together in what may be a somewhat lengthy and arduous process. Instructors and mentors usually become fast friends with those with whom they work.

What is a written text like? There are three types of written resource. The full-text ritual, the cipher ritual, and the Monitor.
A full-text ritual (fairly uncommon) is what the term implies: the entire content of the ritual is written out in plain English (or whatever language) which anyone can read. In some cases, very small sections containing the core secrets (such as passwords, signs, grips) may be enciphered.
A cipher ritual is not actually written with a cipher in the strict sense of the word. It is usually the text written without the vowels. Usually an apostrophe replaces an initial vowel and common symbols are used for very frequent words, such as * for the, / for and. This doesn’t make a great difficulty for anyone to figure out, and it isn’t intended to; otherwise it wouldn’t be useful for anyone using it to learn from. Usually the central core secrets are either omitted (to be learned word of mouth) or further encrypted by showing only the first letter of each word.
A monitor is a partial full-text ritual, containing parts of the ritual written out in full, the rest either omitted (to be learned word of mouth) or maybe enciphered by either of the methods noted above. It may also include diagrams or woodcut pictures to indicate the sequence of parts not written out.

How do you learn from such a text?
The text is chiefly intended to recall to his memory what a Mason has already heard at his initiation, but could not at that time commit to memory. First, we sit down with the copy and an instructor or mentor. Together, we go over it to be sure we understand the meaning of all the words. Then if any parts are enciphered, we go over that to be sure we know what the words are. We are then ready to begin memorizing those parts by repeating them to ourselves, checking the written text, until we have it. Lastly, or at the same time, the mentor goes over all the parts not printed by teaching it a little at a time, word to mouth, as often as necessary until we have it by memory. A good instructor will, as he goes along, point out how the various parts fit together, where there should be pauses or emphases, where there may be gestures or other actions. He will also correct pronunciation and diction and advise on delivery (usually counselling to slow down, as most people tend to talk too fast for public delivery). The learner, if he is preparing to participate in performing part of the ritual, must very carefully review his entire part to decide on how to break up phrases and sentences into understandable pieces, how to vary his voice to avoid sounding monotonous, where greater or lesser emphasis is needed, where and how long to pause. He also needs to practice it out loud, alone or with his mentor, to check the clarity of his diction and his pronunciation, if he’s speaking slowly enough, and to be sure he is using enough volume to be audible in the farthest corner of the lodge without seeming to shout.

Learning the ritual usually seems to be an almost impossible task for most men, but almost any man can do it if he has the motivation and the patience. Every man who does his best and succeeds takes pride in his accomplishment and looks forward to greater challenges.

I am curious what your take is on wearing identifying marks - rings, badges, etc.  On the one hand, if you bump into masons, they could be useful.  But I am also concerned you could run into some anti-masonic folks, who for whatever reason, will treat you suspiciously or downright negatively.

Does anyone have a strong opinion on this, one way or the other?  I would love to sport fraternal items, but I only plan to when I’m in a “controlled environment,” not 24/7.

John Couture
Manchester, NH