December 30, 2010
Almost ready
I have been working on the memory work for the fellowcraft degree. I have it down about 95% right now. This is going much faster than it did for the EA degree. I am possibly going to be giving it back in open lodge this coming Monday night. I will be ready by the for sure just in case. After that it will just be a matter of scheduling a time to be raised. I have been told that they do not like doing both the catechism (memory work) and the raising on the same night just because of time. And they do not usually confer degrees in their normal stated communications (meetings). If all goes well, I will be a Master Mason before the end of January!
December 16, 2010
Started my fellowcraft memory work
The night after I received my fellow craft degree there was another entered apprentice degree at my lodge. My coach and I met about an hour before the degree was supposed to start and started working on the stuff that I am supposed to know for my fellow craft proficiency. One thing that I have noticed is that it is much easier this time. There are some similarities between what I am learning now and what I did before. The hard part is memorizing it word for word.
One thing that I forgot to mention in talking about the EA memory work is that we must learn this "mouth to ear". By that I mean there is nothing written down in any form. In NC we are not allowed to use any form of aid in helping us memorize the work. There are no ciphers or recordings at allowed. There is a very small section of the work allowed to be reproduced from a specific manual dealing with the working tools and a few smaller parts, but that is a very minimal part of what we have to memorize. If I was to guess the entire EA catechism is at least 2000 words long and I have no clue about the fellow craft since I have only started work on it.
There are some jurisdictions that have an all day event where candidates receive all three degrees in a single day without having to memorize anything. I am glad that is not allowed in this state. I appreciate it more having to earn what I am after. It seems that to many people want everything handed to them without having to earn it. Most anything worth having is worth putting forth the effort of working for.
I missed working yesterday but met up with my coach again tonight for about an hour and made it through the obligation. It is no where near perfect, but it is coming much faster than the EA catechism did. I am not trying to rush things because I want to learn them instead of being a parrot that regurgitates a line. If things work out, I can see being raised sometime in January.
I am now caught up in real time with the blog. All future posts should be current to what is happening. I do hope that I can post some things that might actually help the fraternity.
One thing that I forgot to mention in talking about the EA memory work is that we must learn this "mouth to ear". By that I mean there is nothing written down in any form. In NC we are not allowed to use any form of aid in helping us memorize the work. There are no ciphers or recordings at allowed. There is a very small section of the work allowed to be reproduced from a specific manual dealing with the working tools and a few smaller parts, but that is a very minimal part of what we have to memorize. If I was to guess the entire EA catechism is at least 2000 words long and I have no clue about the fellow craft since I have only started work on it.
There are some jurisdictions that have an all day event where candidates receive all three degrees in a single day without having to memorize anything. I am glad that is not allowed in this state. I appreciate it more having to earn what I am after. It seems that to many people want everything handed to them without having to earn it. Most anything worth having is worth putting forth the effort of working for.
I missed working yesterday but met up with my coach again tonight for about an hour and made it through the obligation. It is no where near perfect, but it is coming much faster than the EA catechism did. I am not trying to rush things because I want to learn them instead of being a parrot that regurgitates a line. If things work out, I can see being raised sometime in January.
I am now caught up in real time with the blog. All future posts should be current to what is happening. I do hope that I can post some things that might actually help the fraternity.
Passed to fellow craft
Right after we did our proficiency , we left the lodge and put on an outfit they had for us. The main difference between this night and when I received my entered apprentice degree was that this time I was much less nervous. While I did not know what to expect completely, I had a much better understanding of what was going to happen.
The three of us were conducted into the lodge together and we went through the degree at the same time. This time I payed more attention and remember much more of what was going on than I did during the first degree. It still amazes that the entire process is done completely from memory.
Going through this degree was a very memorable and memorable experience for me. The more time I spend learning my work and learning what freemasonry is all about, the more meaningful this becomes. Other than marring my wife, this has to be up on the best things I have done.
The three of us were conducted into the lodge together and we went through the degree at the same time. This time I payed more attention and remember much more of what was going on than I did during the first degree. It still amazes that the entire process is done completely from memory.
Going through this degree was a very memorable and memorable experience for me. The more time I spend learning my work and learning what freemasonry is all about, the more meaningful this becomes. Other than marring my wife, this has to be up on the best things I have done.
EA memory work
Once you become an entered apprentice you must show proficiency in the degree by repeating back the memory work. The day after I received the Entered Apprentice I met with my coach and spent time working on the memory work. There is a lot to memorize and at first it seemed overwhelming. Over the next 4 weeks I worked with my coach as much as I could to not only memorize the work, but to understand what it meant.
One of the neatest things that I have found in masonry so far is that there is not one single person that speaks for masonry as a whole. Therefore it is up to each individual to interpret the meaning of certain things for themselves. What I get out of masonry will be different than what someone else does.
After spending about 12 or so hours working with my coach I was finally ready to prove my proficiency . Looking back on the experience, one of the things that helped me most was actually watching another EA degree. This allowed me to sit in the lodge from the beginning to the end and see what it was that I did from a completely different perspective. That experience alone made a lot of what was going on make a lot more sense to me.
On the night of 12/13/2010 myself and 2 other entered apprentices proved ourselves by answering the series of questions in an open lodge. Now comes the time to become a fellow craft.
One of the neatest things that I have found in masonry so far is that there is not one single person that speaks for masonry as a whole. Therefore it is up to each individual to interpret the meaning of certain things for themselves. What I get out of masonry will be different than what someone else does.
After spending about 12 or so hours working with my coach I was finally ready to prove my proficiency . Looking back on the experience, one of the things that helped me most was actually watching another EA degree. This allowed me to sit in the lodge from the beginning to the end and see what it was that I did from a completely different perspective. That experience alone made a lot of what was going on make a lot more sense to me.
On the night of 12/13/2010 myself and 2 other entered apprentices proved ourselves by answering the series of questions in an open lodge. Now comes the time to become a fellow craft.
Made an Entered Apprentice
The night of my initiation, I showed up at the lodge about 30 minutes before it was about to start. I got to meet many people that I had not previously met. Everyone seemed to be very nice and supportive. One of the things told to the three of us that every single person that was in that room had been through the exact same thing. That helped calm the nerves a little not knowing exactly what was going to happen.
One thing that I had found during my research was an account of George Washington’s initiation and it did make me a little nervous. If anyone reads this that is considering joining freemasonry, I will advise you to not spoil the night in any way by reading any ritual posted on the internet. There are differences in how things were done then and how they are done now. Besides that, each state, province, country, etc. is governed by its own grand lodge. From my understanding, although they all are very similar, there are differences.
The lodge meeting started and the three of us were sitting outside the lodge room waiting to be asked to enter. A little while later someone came out and asked us some questions then took us to another room where we changed clothes into something they had provided for us. We were then ready to begin the ceremony.
I will not write anything about the ceremony itself. What I will say is that it impressed me very much with all the work that went on and that it was done 100% from memory with a little prompting on what we were to say. For anyone reading this that might be considering joining freemasonry but worried that there is some religious reason not to, I did state that I put my trust in Jesus Christ and that was acceptable to the requirement that a mason must believe in God.
The ceremony took about an hour and 45 minutes and was very impressive. It was a little overwhelming all the information given to you. There is no way you can take all of that in. It is something that I will remember for as long as I live though.
One thing that I had found during my research was an account of George Washington’s initiation and it did make me a little nervous. If anyone reads this that is considering joining freemasonry, I will advise you to not spoil the night in any way by reading any ritual posted on the internet. There are differences in how things were done then and how they are done now. Besides that, each state, province, country, etc. is governed by its own grand lodge. From my understanding, although they all are very similar, there are differences.
The lodge meeting started and the three of us were sitting outside the lodge room waiting to be asked to enter. A little while later someone came out and asked us some questions then took us to another room where we changed clothes into something they had provided for us. We were then ready to begin the ceremony.
I will not write anything about the ceremony itself. What I will say is that it impressed me very much with all the work that went on and that it was done 100% from memory with a little prompting on what we were to say. For anyone reading this that might be considering joining freemasonry but worried that there is some religious reason not to, I did state that I put my trust in Jesus Christ and that was acceptable to the requirement that a mason must believe in God.
The ceremony took about an hour and 45 minutes and was very impressive. It was a little overwhelming all the information given to you. There is no way you can take all of that in. It is something that I will remember for as long as I live though.
voted on
The day of the balloting of my petition I called a friend and asked if there was anything that I needed to do. I was not sure if I needed to go to the lodge that night or wait at home or what. I was still a little confused about the entire process. I was told that I did not need to come to the lodge but they would call me and let me know the outcome, but it would probably be the next day since it would most likely be a late night getting finished since there were four of us being voted on and they had elections for the coming year to take care of that night as well.
The next day I had to drive to Charlotte for a meeting that day and had let them know that I would most likely be away from the phone but would check my voice mail when I could. I just happened to be on a break at the time and the Worshipful Master (the master of the lodge, but worshipful is a honorific title like “your honor” or “Mr. President” and he is NOT worshiped in any sense) who informed me that I had been voted in with the three others and told me that there would be an initiation ceremony the following Monday night if I could make it. I told him that I would be there for sure. I also got a call from a friend there that told me the same thing and asked if I had questions.
A couple nights after this my wife and I had gone out to dinner with some friends, and who one happened to be a mason from another lodge. I informed him that I was going to be initiated the following Monday night and he asked me if I had ever ridden a chicken or a goat. He advised me to bring carrots.
The next day I had to drive to Charlotte for a meeting that day and had let them know that I would most likely be away from the phone but would check my voice mail when I could. I just happened to be on a break at the time and the Worshipful Master (the master of the lodge, but worshipful is a honorific title like “your honor” or “Mr. President” and he is NOT worshiped in any sense) who informed me that I had been voted in with the three others and told me that there would be an initiation ceremony the following Monday night if I could make it. I told him that I would be there for sure. I also got a call from a friend there that told me the same thing and asked if I had questions.
A couple nights after this my wife and I had gone out to dinner with some friends, and who one happened to be a mason from another lodge. I informed him that I was going to be initiated the following Monday night and he asked me if I had ever ridden a chicken or a goat. He advised me to bring carrots.
investigation committee
About three weeks after I had turned in the petition I received a call that some of the brothers would like to meet with me to answer any questions that I might have. I scheduled a time and we decided to meet down at the lodge. When I arrived I met with three brothers, only one of whom I had met previously. We sat down and they asked me a series of questions and answered any that I had. I was surprised that they answered some of my questions in as much detail as they did. They were completely open about what freemasonry was and was not. There were a couple questions where they gave me an answer and then said I would find out more if I was accepted and I took the degrees. After I left that meeting I felt that this was something that I was definitely interest in pursuing further. Now it was just a wait and see time.
petitioning the lodge
As I stated in my previous post, I had started examining the possibility of joining freemasonry. I had done a ton of research and had emailed a local lodge. I received a reply back from the secretary of the local lodge and was invited to come down and talk to him the next day. I went and met with him and there were a couple of other people there as well. They gave me a short tour of the building, including the lodge room, and answered my questions. At the end of the meeting they gave me a petition (application) and told me to fill it out and return it if I was interested in joining. There was going to be a meeting that night and if I turned it in before the meeting they would submit it then. I was not completely sure if I was ready to submit it that quick so I took it home and thought about it for a while. I went ahead and filled out the petition and finished my work that afternoon. I ended up taking it back that night to have it read because I was told that it could not be voted on till the meeting 2 months away. There is a rule in NC that a petition cannot be voted on till after 28 days after it is read in an open lodge. This lodge meets the first Monday of every month normally but since Labor Day was that day they held off meeting till the second Monday. That did not give enough time to pass before the next meeting. I figured I could always withdrawal my petition if I found out something I could not agree with.
The only thing that I did not fill out on the petition was the spot for someone to recommend me. I needed 2 people that were members of that lodge to sign for me and everyone that I knew were actually members of another lodge further away than I wanted to go. The day after the meeting I got a call that told me there was someone there that knew me from my church whom I had no idea was a mason and he signed my petition for me. Now I just had to wait almost 2 months before I found out what was going to happen.
The only thing that I did not fill out on the petition was the spot for someone to recommend me. I needed 2 people that were members of that lodge to sign for me and everyone that I knew were actually members of another lodge further away than I wanted to go. The day after the meeting I got a call that told me there was someone there that knew me from my church whom I had no idea was a mason and he signed my petition for me. Now I just had to wait almost 2 months before I found out what was going to happen.
From the beginning.....
I started this blog as a journal of my own personal Masonic journey. Currently I am a fellowcraft mason. That is a 2° mason. I am starting this story back at the beginning of my journey. I knew very little about the masons and freemasonry to start with. The only thing that I knew was that I wanted to look at helping out the shriners because they had helped a kid I that went to church with and whom I taught a little about being a sound technician so he could help me with the sound board. I found a website called beashrinernow.com and found out that I would have to first be a mason before I could join the shrine. That is what started me on this journey that I am now on.
I had heard stories of how the freemasons were in charge of everything as well as they were completely against anything Christianity taught. To be completely honest, I was not sure if this was something for me. I started by searching on the web about anything I could read about freemasonry. I found many sites that had arguments for and against it. The anti-freemasonry sites seemed to be broken down into two different categories. There were sites that were conspiracy driven as well as those that were against it for religious reasons. The main concern to me was the religious side. I spent a great deal of time looking at what was being said and found tons of discrepancies in some of the sites. I then went to talk to some pastors about their thoughts of freemasonry. I got responses that were from “they worship the devil” to “they are a great organization that has helped me for years.”
One of the things that I noticed doing my research was that the vast majority of the people against freemasonry were never a mason themselves. All their research seemed to be based on snippets of text written 150+ years ago with very little based on information currently available. I decided then that I wanted to talk to some real freemasons. I did not have to look far. I found that a good friend of mine was a mason as well as a few other people I knew. I talked with them and they answered my questions. I knew the kind of people they were and knew that they would have left masonry behind if there was anything that would put their religious convictions in jeopardy.
After talking to some friends and doing a lot of reading, I decided it was time for me to get in contact with someone at a local lodge and see what else I could find out. I again got on the web and found the Grand Lodge of NC website. I figured that would be a good place to start since I wanted to look at mainstream or “regular” lodges and stay away from those considered to be “clandestine”. I found a lodge that happened to be just a little over a mile from me that I didn’t know existed in the 8 years I lived in this town because it was on a short dead end road basically hidden behind a Baptist church. I found their website and sent an email to the secretary.
I had heard stories of how the freemasons were in charge of everything as well as they were completely against anything Christianity taught. To be completely honest, I was not sure if this was something for me. I started by searching on the web about anything I could read about freemasonry. I found many sites that had arguments for and against it. The anti-freemasonry sites seemed to be broken down into two different categories. There were sites that were conspiracy driven as well as those that were against it for religious reasons. The main concern to me was the religious side. I spent a great deal of time looking at what was being said and found tons of discrepancies in some of the sites. I then went to talk to some pastors about their thoughts of freemasonry. I got responses that were from “they worship the devil” to “they are a great organization that has helped me for years.”
One of the things that I noticed doing my research was that the vast majority of the people against freemasonry were never a mason themselves. All their research seemed to be based on snippets of text written 150+ years ago with very little based on information currently available. I decided then that I wanted to talk to some real freemasons. I did not have to look far. I found that a good friend of mine was a mason as well as a few other people I knew. I talked with them and they answered my questions. I knew the kind of people they were and knew that they would have left masonry behind if there was anything that would put their religious convictions in jeopardy.
After talking to some friends and doing a lot of reading, I decided it was time for me to get in contact with someone at a local lodge and see what else I could find out. I again got on the web and found the Grand Lodge of NC website. I figured that would be a good place to start since I wanted to look at mainstream or “regular” lodges and stay away from those considered to be “clandestine”. I found a lodge that happened to be just a little over a mile from me that I didn’t know existed in the 8 years I lived in this town because it was on a short dead end road basically hidden behind a Baptist church. I found their website and sent an email to the secretary.
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