Pillars of Light. Some more on our Ritual

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1 Compiled by the Editorial Team of the Grand Lodge Library Volume 3 Issue 3 (28) March 2007 Editorial We are working hard, here in the Library, to bring to you a new refurbished, re-modelled, revamped Library Section of the Grand Lodge Site on the Internet. Colourful and attractive, modern, easy to access and navigate through, the new Library section will provide information on the function of the Library, give access to the catalogue of Books in the Lending Section, a large collection of Lectures on a spectrum of Masonic subjects, as well as your own archive where all the past issues of our newsletter Pillars of Light are stored for your convenient perusal. Also included is a special facility of corresponding by to our Grand Library, to order books, get information, ask questions on any Masonic subject and keep a constant contact with your Hub of Knowledge. The prototype of our new Library Site has been presented for approval to our Board of Management and was accepted with some minor corrections. We are now finalizing the last adjustments and will be ready for installation on the Grand Lodge Site very soon. A new service, by the Library is available to you all: Among the volunteer staff of the Library we have a number of Accredited Masonic Speakers. If your Lodge requires an informative talk to generate discussion and develop more interest in Masonic knowledge, please contact the Library to arrange a talk on a topic that will complement your Lodge s program. Brethren, do not forget that we are here to serve you, to inform you, to assist you in all aspects of your queries on any Masonic subject. All your questions will be answered and published in the very next issue of your Pillars of Light. If you wish to have the Pillars of Light sent by to you, please let us know by addressing your request to library@uglnsw.freemasonry.org.au. I remind you that we have installed in the Library computers for your use when researching, or preparing a talk for the lodge. Our skilled librarians are able and ready to assist you in your research or study of Freemasonry and advise you on the best book to choose for your next pleasant, relaxing and educational reading. We have now received new titles, great sources of Masonic information. Take advantage of them. Our monthly Study-Circle continues regularly to meet in the Library. Do not hesitate to contact us with the subject that you would propose for debate, and I will gather the group that is interested in your subject. If you feel like organizing a Study-Circle in your own Masonic Centre and need advise on how to organize it, give me a call and let s talk about your project. And if you are around, drop in for a cup of tea or coffee. I would enjoy preparing it for you. You might be surprised (or not) to find a Mason or two, who like you, joined in for a chat, and as Masons, we re never short of a subject. Joseph V. Haffner Some more on our Ritual A very good question on the subject, presented by one of our inquisitive brethren, prompted me to look into the item and bring to you some more on the ritual. (J.H.) We all know of the radical alteration made in the ritual by 1724, which was undoubtedly due to Dr. Anderson. For some reason this Aberdeen Presbyterian preferred to obliterate his trail, and so the immediate details of the history and development of the Master Mason s degree seem to be lost forever. In the same year his Book of Constitutions was published, the immediate result being the formation of several irregular lodges which was the signal, if not the reason for a bad split in the Craft: the Antients and the Moderns. The Moderns followed Dr. Anderson; the Antients practically broke away from Grand Lodge, refusing to recognize the labours of Anderson, Desaguliers, and their colleagues. As we know, the Reconciliation came in Previous to that, in 1770, Grand Lodge commissioned Bro. Dunckerley to revise the ritual, and it would seem that it was this brother who announced the doctrine of the substituted word which has been accepted ever since. As a matter of fact the ancient charges tell us that the Mason s word was not lost. Anderson s ritual mentions that the lost word was actually found. Quoting from the old ritual of Anderson under the heading Master Mason s Degree : - From whence came you? / - From the East / - What is that which was lost and is now found? / - The Mason s Word, etc. This story of the Lost Word has always been of absorbing interest to craftsmen. Royal Arch Masons know a good deal more about it than Master Masons Suffice it to say that what is considered as Lost, is mainly the Divine Commands and Inner Realisations symbolized by a divided word. Man, somehow, somewhere has lost something. That something is Divinity, and through trial and tribulation, pain and suffering, exile and anguish of mind, he wrestles and searches on, ever seeking to recover it. Some saintly characters would appear to have accomplished an approximate success but to most of us Masonry s lesson that Death alone can restore it and reveal to us that which was lost, remains our surest comfort. The Masonic ritual as we know it now is a précis of all the best traditions and teachings of the centuries and Masonry itself an inexhaustible source of true knowledge. Mysterious Rites and Ceremonies, similar to ours, have existed in Egypt, China, India, various parts of Africa, and even here in Australia amongst the Aborigines, for countless centuries. ( Cont. next page) Published material does not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the UGL of NSW and the ACT

2 Page 2 (Continued from page one) Our symbols are known in their true significance to more peoples than ourselves. Exactly how the ancient teachings by means of allegory and symbols, legend and drama, became entwined with the moralising of Operative Masons, has never been ascertained, and probably never will, but we know that in the early part of the eighteenth century, Dr. Anderson, Desaguliers, and others gathered up the loose ends of these teachings, and with a few additions, wove them into one well spliced whole. Since then various revisions have been made, particularly prior to Of course, wholesale deletions and additions have never been agreed upon unanimously and therefore many pieces of ritual have fallen into disuse, many have been lost. But some of them can be still found in what are known as the Lectures ( Emulation working). They contain a whole wealth of exoteric information, particularly the legends. It must be said that the Tracing Boards are a summary of these lectures in catechism form and are to be given in open Lodge regularly. The Questions, which every candidate for the Three Degrees has to answer today, are taken from these lectures. The Regius Ms. Of 1390 seems to be the fountainhead of the long stream of charges and rituals, which has since flooded the Masonic world. It was written in rhyme, its fifteen points and fifteen articles constituting a set of unalterable landmarks, which have ever been a bed rock foundation on which our noble structure has been firmly built. Various Rituals of Freemasonry: The Operative masons from earliest times banded themselves together in lodges, had a ceremony of initiation, and imposed certain penalties on those who broke their obligations. In addition to the Old Charges various rituals have been discovered from the debris of which the present rituals have had their beginnings. The Rev. G. Oliver in 1863 delivered a lecture on these early rituals. Dealing first with the Regius Manuscript, he passes on to the degrees of the Order as issued in 1357 during the reign of Edward the III. The following is well worth extracting from the time-honoured document: That the Fellow-Crafts shall work honestly for their pay, and love their Fellows as themselves; and that all shall be true to the King, the realm and to the Lodge. That if any of the fraternity Pillars of Light should be fractious, mutinous or disobedient of the Master s orders, and, after proper admonition should persist in his rebellion, he shall forfeit all claims to the rights, benefits and principles of a true and faithful brother Anderson s Ritual is well worth a study. For the first time we have at least the semblance of the three degrees as we know them, although it is interesting to note that much of it is derived from the Scottish operative masonry, due to the fact that Anderson was a Scotsman. As for the Third Degree, it was formulated on the basis of the Ancient Mysteries and illustrated by the light of Kabbalism. One fact is interesting. In 1721 Desaguliers, who must unquestionably have had a big hand in modelling the ritual, visited St. Mary s Chapel in Edinburgh. Less than two years later Anderson s Constitutions were published. A year later a copy of it was presented to the Lodge of Dunblane this being the first instance of Speculative Masonry being introduced into Scotland though it was not till 1735 that we have evidence of the Master Mason degree being worked at Canongate Kilwinning Lodge. From the time of Anderson many hands have been at work on the ritual. Lectures and charges have been added and in turn have been modelled and re-modelled. Martin Clare, Thomas Dunckerley, Callcott, Hutchinson and Preston are the most famous names in this connection prior to 1814, when the whole ritual was reconstructed, after the Union, by the Lodge of Reconciliation. Of these Dunckerley is interesting because he was the first to introduce the doctrine of the Lost Word to which the Royal Arch degree must owe its origin or at least a very remarkable reappearance. Equally outstanding is William Preston, who when the York lodges seceded from the London Grand Lodge, very carefully constructed a ritual for them. He divided each degree into sections, and at every lodge meeting some portion was given. A reading of them leaves the impression that Masons in Preston s time were very thoroughly instructed in the ceremonies, doctrines, legends and symbolism of the Three Degrees. Much of the Prestonian ritual survives today in our catechisms and charges. (includes extracts from: the Keys of Freemasonry ; the Regius Manuscript; Anderson s Degrees; W. Preston-Collected Lectures) Continuation in the next month issue of the PoL May we suggest to the Brother Secretary that it would be greatly appreciated if he could include regularly our link: in the Notice Paper sent to the members of the Lodge.

3 Page 3 We continue this month to accumulate readers contributions on the subject : Books that have changed your life... A couple of years ago, as a young Mason keen to start engaging with the lessons of the Craft Degrees, I found myself reading an inordinate number of non-fiction books, so fortunate are we with our Grand Lodge Library. But it was a literary work by the renowned Brazilian author Paulo Coelho that truly deepened my engagement with our Masonic lessons and allegory. 'The Alchemist' (1993) would, no doubt, be well known by many brethren of Lodge Kellerman but, for those yet to discover the amazing journey of the Andalusian shepherd Santiago, it is well worth the read. In search of his 'personal calling', Santiago travels across his homeland of Spain, across the Mediterranean and toward the desert of Egypt in search of buried treasures at the pyramids. As Santiago meets the challenges and characters of his journey, his search for material treasure becomes a discovery of inner wealth and possibility. Coelho's story is a wonderfully simple tale that resonates deeply with the humane ideals of Freemasonry and the personal journey of self discovery that each Craftsman is charged to undertake. "Dotted throughout the story and illuminated in a poetic style are metaphors and deep insights that stir our imagination and transport the reader on a fantastic journey of the soul." Yomiuri Shinbun, Japan. Lachlan Delaney Dear Editor, I am reading almost every month the Pillars of Light and must say that there is a lot, I have learned from it. When I found a word or a subject that I don t entirely understand, I immediately go to dictionaries or ask a more experienced Brother about it. There is one question to which I couldn t find any help. Why is the place where we have our after Lodge Dinner, called a South? It is not placed in the South of t h e b u i l d i n g (A Brother in need of an answer) My dear brother in need of an answer, Remembering that our Freemasonry came from the northern hemisphere, it was natural that the operative mason s building the castles and cathedrals would take their meals and habitation on the sunny side of the construction site, i.e. They would go to the south for their rest and refreshment. The symbolic terminology was transferred unchanged to the southern hemisphere. For the same reason the JW is placed in the South as he has immediate charge over the Brethren when they are at refreshment. Dear Editor, I follow regularly the issues of your important Pillars of Light. And regularly I am promising myself to contact you on some technicality. I found the material published of extreme importance and too well presented to remain an Internet newsletter. I am asking myself if it wouldn t be possible to print it out, getting some publicity support, give it a nice, colourful attractive aspect and distribute it. I found it to be a valuable document, publishing material of great Masonic value. There is no reason why it shouldn t go to every interested member of our Craft. I have used material of the Pillars of Light to prepare some Lectures I presented in my lodge and I consider it as a true source of inspiration. Give it a serious thought. It is to rich an information to remain behind a screen that is not accessible to many of us Walter Kuggenheim Dear Walter, L:. Die 3 Seulen Frankfurt Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I will give it a serious thought and look for some serious support. JH We need you!!! Do you have thoughts on Masonry to share or expand? Do you want to express your views and enlarge our knowledge? Then come and join in our Study Circle. Call the Grand Librarian, (02) library@uglnsw.freemasonry.org.au

4 Page 4 Enlightened Pillars Any Questions? Ask the Grand Librarian Dear RW Bro. Joe Haffner I was reading our Ritual the other day and I was wondering who actually wrote it? Are we able to trace our ritual back to an individual? Or is it an evolving piece of literature whose original author has been lost in time? If there is a recognized author, has he also written extraneous material that would be helpful in grasping the concepts in the ritual? Regards, Bro. Jason Cutler - Lodge Illawarra My dear Brother Jason, Like your previous questions, this one is again, a challenging one, and I will try to reach with you together an answer based on the best of my knowledge, without pretending it to be completely satisfactory. I will start by saying that the question is a very complex one, one which has baffled and still confounds, the most distinguished research scholars. Joseph Fort Newton in his famous book The Builders has said, - The only secret in Freemasonry is that it has no secrets. But we do have one secret, or should we say an impenetrable puzzle, or even better, a bewildering question: For the last over two hundred years, our Masonic historical research scholars, have tried to solve the mystery, with only minor success. And I refer to the origins of our ritual. That operative masonry began in ancient times cannot be disputed. It was in Scotland that Operative Masonry began to develop a ritual, which was called the Mason Word. Trade secrets were important to the craftsmen and they did not wish Cowans to have them. So these secrets were communicated upon the five p. of f. which are listed in the Edinburgh Register House Ms., written in 1696, as foot to f., knee to k.. and which today is part of our present Master Masons degree. It is out of the old craft guilds, which worked on the great churches and castles of the 13 th to the 16 th centuries, - came our Operative Masonry, with organized lodges and ceremonies. By gradual process of change, this Operative Masonry became Speculative and created a Grand Lodge of Masons in London in Speculative Masonry inherited from its predecessors the so-called Gothic Constitutions or Old Charges. They consist of a series of about 100 old manuscripts of which I would mention only the most prized; One of the two most important is the Regius Ms. (1390), the other is the Cooke Ms. (1410). Both manuscripts were written for Masons and contain unusual laws and procedures. The Cooke Ms. begins with an invocation to Deity, a practice followed in every Englishspeaking Lodge to this day. Both Manuscripts end with a ritualistic quotation, familiar to us all, So mote it be. In the main, the manuscripts consist of two parts. A history of the Craft and the regulations or charges. The historical section, as contained in the old manuscripts, was copied by Dr. James Anderson, in his famous Book of Constitutions of Even William Preston, in his great work The Illustrations of Freemasonry followed Anderson s account. The Ancient Charges were another matter, and from them comes some of our present day ritual. The early initiate was directed to take his oath while his hand was upon the book. He then was charged to follow in detail the instructions given in relation to his behaviour as a member of the Craft. The Charges and the History of the craft were required to be read at each Assembly of Masons, together with a lecture on some appropriate Masonic subject. These requirements carried over into the lodges of the newly organized Grand Lodge after 1717, and much of our ritual today came from the manner in which these requirements were observed. The pledge of every Mason never to reproduce the very few secrets in written or printed form means that proof of the gradual evolution of the Masonic Ritual is safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts, now long since dead. However, the various exposes, like those of Prichard, whose Masonry Dissected, published in 1730, went through scores of editions and furnish valuable clues to the gradual development and transition of the ritual. A really enriching reading indeed. The Illustrations of Masonry of William Preston published in 1772 remain probably the most widely read book on the subject. For ten years, Preston had visited dozens of Lodges, taking notes on the many versions of ritual then in use. Wisely choosing the best, and polishing and perfecting even those, he produced a magnificent collection of lectures, which received general acclaim. I strongly recommend the reading of the Prestonian lectures, which are very helpful for better grasping the concepts of the ritual. In conclusion, the ritual as we practice it today, is the result of an array of influences and adaptations, in some respect based on the Rituals of Antiquity, adopted and adapted by the Operatives, the Speculatives, the Moderns, the Antients. Be it as it is, we have today one of the great masterpieces of the English language. It is well able to take its place amongst, and stand in comparison with the works of Dante and Shakespeare, as one of the great literary achievements of all time, and one of the noblest conceptions of the human mind. I therefore believe it doesn t matter, that it was the work of many hands, for the end result is a pure gem, a monument to men s quest for perfection.

5 Page 5 The qualifications of a true Mason Every true mason has come to the realization that there is but one Lodge that is, the Universe. He realizes that his vow of brotherhood and fraternity is universal and that all the creation is included in the true Masonic Craft. The mystic Mason, in developing the eyes that see behind the apparent ritual, recognizes the one-ness of life manifested through the diversity of form. The true disciple of ancient Masonry has given up forever the worship of personalities. Those who allow appearances or worldly expressions to deter them from their self-appointed tasks are failures in Masonry, for Masonry is an abstract science of spiritual enlightenment that needs the serenity of mind to create a better self. The True Mason is not sectarian. He realizes with the divine illumination of his Lodge that as a Mason he must accept and respect all religions and therefore be universally accepting all his brethren as equals. He realizes with his truer understanding the oneness of all spiritual truth. He knows that all religions are but one story told in diverse ways for peoples whose ideals differ but whose great purpose is in harmony with Masonic ideals. North, East, South or West stretch the diversities of human thought, and while the ideals of men apparently differ, when all is said and the crystallization of form with its false concepts is swept away, one basic truth remains: all are Temple Builders, labouring for a single end. The True Mason must develop the powers of observation. He must seek eternally in all the manifestations of nature for the things which he has lost because he failed to work for them. He must become a student of human nature, including his own nature, unfold the hidden aspects of his mind and correct them as much as he possibly can. The True Mason enters his lodge with one thought uppermost in his mind: How can I, as an individual, be of greater use in the Universal Plan? What can I do to be worthy to comprehend the mysteries which are unfolded here? How can I develop the eyes to see the things which are concealed from those who lack spiritual understanding? The True Mason is supremely unselfish in every expression and application of the powers that have been entrusted to him. The true Light can only come to those who, asking nothing, gladly give all to it. The true brother of the Craft, while constantly striving to improve himself, mentally, physically, and spiritually through the days of his life, never makes his own desires the goal of his works. He has a duty and that duty is to fit into the plans of another. It is never what goes on within the tiled lodge that is the basis of his greatness, but rather the way in which he meets the problems of daily life. The true Masonic student is known by his brotherly actions and common sense. All true Masons know that their work is not secret, but they realize that some of its aspects must remain discretely kept to all who do not live the true Masonic life. Yet if the so-called secrets of Freemasonry were shouted from the roofs, the Fraternity would still be absolutely safe; for certain spiritual qualities are necessary before the real Masonic secrets can be understood, even by the brethren themselves. Only those who have been weighed in the balance and found to be true, upright and square have prepared themselves by their own growth to appreciate the inner meanings of their Craft. To the rest of the brethren within or without the lodge their sacred rituals must remain, as Shakespeare might have said. Words, words, words. A Mason is not proud of his position. He is not puffed up by his honour, but with a modest heart he is eternally realizing that it is far below the standard of his Craft or the expectation of his brethren, he never feels himself worthy of his Craft. A Mason is evolved through ages of selfpurification and spiritual transmutation. There are thousands of Masons who are brethren in name only, for their failure to exemplify the ideals of their Craft makes them unresponsive to the teachings and purpose of Freemasonry. The true Mason recognizes the value of seeking for truth wherever he can find it, and never will use treachery and subterfuge to cover himself or others crimes. The true Brother of the Craft knows and applies one great paradox. He must search for the high things in lowly places and find the lowly things in the high places. The Mason who feels holier than his fellow man has raised a barrier around himself through which no Light can pass, for the one who in truth is the greatest is the servant of all. Many brethren make a great mistake in building a wall around their secrets, for they succeed only in shutting out their own light. Their divine opportunity is at hand. Let the Mason stand forth and by living the doctrines, which he preaches, show to his brother man the glory of his work. He holds the keys to truth; let him unlock the door, and with his life and not his words preach the doctrine, which he has so long professed.