Freemasons New Zealand
The Growth of Prince Hall Femasonry
When men wished to become Masons in the new nation the existing members of the Lodge had to vote unanimously to accept the petitioner. If any one white member voted against a black petitioner that person would be rejected. In a letter by General Albert Pike to his brother in 1875 he said, "I am not inclined to mettle in the matter. I took my obligations to white men, not to Negroes. When I have to accept Negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it."
Masonic and Grand Lodges generally excluded African Americans. Since the votes were anonymous, it was impossible to identify the member who had voted against accepting a black member. The effect was the black men who had legitimately been made Masons in integrated jurisdictions could be rejected. Racial segregation existed until the 1960s.
The black Masons therefore had limited power. When the military lodges left the area, they were given the authority to meet as a lodge, take part in the Masonic procession on St. John's Day, and bury their dead with Masonic rites but could not confer Masonic degrees or perform any other essential functions of a fully operating Lodge.
The Grand Lodge of England
Unable to create a charter, they applied to the Grand Lodge of England. The Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, H. R. H. The Duke of Cumberland, issued a charter for African Lodge No. 459 September 29, 1784, later renamed African Lodge No. 1. The lodge was the country's first African Masonic lodge.
Six years later, on March 22, 1797 Prince Hall organized a lodge in Philadelphia, called African Lodge No 459, under Prince Hall's Charter. They later received their own charter. On June 25, 1797 he organized African Lodge (later known as Hiram Lodge No. 3) at Providence, Rhode Island.
Author and historian James Sidbury said, “Prince Hall and those who joined him to found Boston's African Masonic Lodge built a fundamentally new 'African' movement on a preexisting institutional foundation. Within that movement they asserted emotional, mythical, and genealogical links to the continent of Africa and its peoples”. In 1788 John Marrant became the chaplain of the African Masonic Lodge. The lodge met in the Golden Fleece, located near Boston Harbour, during the 1780s and 1790s. They later met at Kirby Street Temple in Boston.
Intervisitation attainment
By 1797 there were at least thirty-four members in the Boston black lodge, but still the lodge was overlooked by mainstream Boston Masons. Integration with the American white Masons was not imminent. Since they were unable to attain integration, the blacks concentrated on recognition from white Masons that, because black Masonry descending from Prince Hall of Massachusetts, had received its charter from the English Grand Lodge, it was legitimate and not “clandestine”, and was entitled to all Masonic rights, such as intervisitation between black and white lodges, without prejudice. Many Grand Masters hoped that ultimately recognition would lead to integration, but they knew it would be a long time before that happened.
The African Grand Lodge
After the death of Prince Hall, on December 4, 1807, the brethren were eager to form a Grand Lodge. On June 24, 1808 they organized African Grand Lodge with the lodges from Philadelphia, Providence and Boston, which was later renamed the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, in his honor. The Lodge was struck from the rolls after the 1813 merger of the Antients and the Moderns (two rival Grand Lodges of England), along with many other Lodges. "At the amalgamation of the two Registers after the Union of the two Grand Lodges in England in 1813, African Lodge (and many others at home and abroad) was omitted from the register, there having been no contact for many years. African Lodge was, however, not formally erased.
Independent Lodge
After being denied acknowledgment by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, the African Lodge declared itself to be an independent Grand Lodge, the African Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. In 1827 the African Grand Lodge declared its independence from the United Grand Lodge of England, as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had done 45 years earlier. It also stated its independence from all of the white Grand Lodges in the United States, declaring itself to be a separate Masonic body.
This led to a tradition of separate, predominantly African-American jurisdictions in North America, known collectively as Prince Hall Freemasonry. Widespread racial segregation in North America made it impossible for African Americans to join many predominantly white lodges, and most predominantly white Grand Lodges in North America refused to recognize the Prince Hall Lodges and Prince Hall Masons in their territory as legitimate.
Both the Prince Hall and predominantly white Grand Lodges have had integrated membership for many years now though in some Southern states this had been policy but not actual practice. Today, Prince Hall Affiliated Grand Lodges are recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), as well as the overwhelming majority of US state Grand Lodges and even many international Grand Lodges. The situation is complicated by the level of recognition that is granted, with some lodges giving full "blanket" recognition to all Prince Hall Grand Lodges, while others put on limits with regard to issues such as “intervisitation rights” or dual membership, sometimes treating Prince Hall Grand Lodges as regular but foreign jurisdictions.
Organisation
There are two competing sets of organizations within Prince Hall Freemasonry. A minority of lodges, which are subject to the Prince Hall National Grand Lodge, are referred to as Prince Hall Origin, and are irregular. The majority of lodges, which are subject to 41 independent state Grand Lodges, and are known as Prince Hall Affiliation (PHA). The Conference of Prince Hall Grand Masters determines the regularity of Prince Hall Freemasonry. All regular and recognized Prince Hall Grand Lodges are represented at the Conference. A comprehensive list of all Prince Hall grand lodges deemed regular is listed on the conference website. Each regular Grand Lodge traces its lineage back to African Lodge No. 459, where Prince Hall was made a Mason. The group using the name Prince Hall Origin has no affiliation to the conference of Prince Hall Grand Masters.
National and International Lodges
Today, predominantly black Prince Hall Grand Lodges exist in the original state jurisdictions of the United States; additionally, Prince Hall jurisdictions have been established in Canada, the Caribbean, and Liberia, governing Prince Hall Lodges throughout the world.
The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the Caribbean was founded with the assistance of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York. It is based in Christ Church, Barbados, the location of Prince Hall's birth. A monument to Prince Hall has been erected outside the Grand Lodge building. Caribbean Prince Hall Masonry was established in Barbados with the chartering of Prince Hall Memorial Lodge No. 100 in July 1965 by the Grand Master and officers of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the State of New York and Jurisdiction. The same jurisdiction subsequently chartered additional lodges in Guyana, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica, constituting them into a District administration known as the New York 9th District (Caribbean). In June 1975 senior members met at the New York Sheraton Hotel to commence discussion of the possible formation of an independent Caribbean Grand Lodge. Following many years of discussion the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the Caribbean and Jurisdiction was finally inaugurated on 24 April 1993.
Legacy
Prince Hall's legacy as a Freemason and a leader has survived with the lodges; Hall is considered the “father of African-American Freemasonry”. As a Georgia Mason noted, the original local lodge rules written by Prince Hall and his followers in the late 18th century were the first set of regulations drafted by colored men for self-government in the United States, and Masonry ever since has striven to teach its members ‘the fundamentals of central government’ which is the basis of American life.
After nearly two centuries of controversy, the Grand Lodge of England was asked by a US "mainstream" Grand Lodge to decide the matter of Prince Hall Masonic legitimacy. While no Grand Lodge of any kind is universally recognized, at present, Prince Hall Masonry is recognized by some UGLE-recognized Grand Lodges and not by others, but it is working its way toward further recognition.
When two Grand Lodges recognize and are in Masonic communication with each other, they are said to be in amity, and the brethren of each may visit each other's lodges and interact Masonically. When two Grand Lodges are not in amity, inter-visitation is not allowed. Exclusive Jurisdiction can be waived when the two over-lapping Grand Lodges are themselves in Amity and agree to share jurisdiction (for example, since the Grand Lodge of Connecticut is in Amity with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut, the principle of Exclusive Jurisdiction does not apply, and other Grand Lodges may recognize both).
After carefully studying the records, the Grand Lodge of England concluded that the original Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was indeed entitled to Masonic recognition, despite the general tradition of “exclusive jurisdiction”, which meant that only one recognized Masonic body could exist in each state.
According to data compiled in 2021, 46 out of the 51 mainstream U.S. Grand Lodges recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges. The few mainstream state Grand Lodges that currently do not recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges are located in southern states, an area with an estimated 50% of Prince Hall Freemasons: Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina and West Virginia. While African-Americans can join any lodge in North America, Prince Hall Masonry remains a vital part of American tradition.
Masons' Marks
The great churches and cathedrals of medieval Europe were built by a group of skilled artisans about whom we know a great deal. Documents survive in large quantities in which names, rates of pay, types of work done and other details are recorded. Contracts tell us about the nature of the projects the masons carried out, the tools they used, their conditions of employment, and in sections that seem more modern than medieval, sometimes even include reference to penalties for over running.
From these, and from other documents, we can tell where the masons came from, how many days they worked and how many holidays they were allowed to take. We also know that most only worked on the site between the spring and the autumn and that works departments were scaled right down in the winter when it was not possible to build for fear of frost damaging the partially complete structure.
In some cases this meant that in winter a skilled workforce was disbanded. At Lichfield, the master of works made an impassioned plea to the Dean and Chapter to be allowed to pay his key workers over the winter since they had skills that it would take some considerable time to teach to new masons in the next season.
Although the documentary record is very rich the documents that refer to building operations were usually written to provide a record of expenditure and to demonstrate that the monies had been spent appropriately. The one thing that is conspicuously absent is any reference to rules concerning the uses of masons’ marks.
There are some records that deal with the regulations concerning masons, two documents provide direct information about the training and organisation of stone masons. These are the Regius and Cooke Manuscripts that date from the 15th century and are now thought to have been written in the West Midlands. They provide an insight into the way that stonemasons, who worked outside the guild system, had regulations about rates of pay, the taking of apprentices and other aspects of working practice, but no mention is made of masons’ marks.
The reason for this total lack of any formal recording of the allocation and use of masons’ marks is probably that there was no single system in use in the middle ages, or earlier. The system is adaptable and there may well have been local variation in the ways that marks were used. Given that marks have been in use for over 4, 000 years it would be surprising if this were not the case.
Marks are ciphers, that is they belong to the whole group of symbols that stand outside literacy and enable people to convey very specific information simply.
It is a very flexible system and can be found in many societies in which information about ownership, or authorship, has to be passed within a specific group. The marks carry no other meaning beyond the practical one and the system is arcane rather than secret, there was no need for people other than stonemasons to know about it.
Current road signs, intended to advise lorry-drivers of by-pass routes, are a modern example of the same thing. The signs consist of four symbols, a circle, a triangle, a square and a diamond and are to be seen on the approaches to towns and cities. Their meaning is known to the people who need to understand them and since the rest of us are not required to use them we are not told what they mean.
For more on different kinds of marks see Workshop Practice.
The Emulation Ritual
A brief history
The Emulation Ritual is one of the most widely practiced rituals in England and perhaps, throughout the world.
The Lodge of Reconciliation was set up in early December, 1813, just before the union of the two rival Grand Lodges on 27th December of that year, to settle, and afterwards to demonstrate, the form of the ritual for the United Grand Lodge of England.
The Lodge of Reconciliation ceased working in June, 1816 after the new ritual had been approved at the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge. The Stability Lodge of Instruction, which included several members of the Lodge of Reconciliation amongst its leaders, started working in 1817, but Emulation Lodge of Improvement was not founded until October, 1823.
Emulation can, however, claim indirectly almost as close a connection with the Lodge of Reconciliation as can Stability, because many of the Founders of Emulation Lodge of Improvement had been members of the Burlington and the Perseverance Lodges of Instruction.
Burlington started working in 1810 (under the Premier or “Moderns” Grand Lodge) and Perseverance started in 1818. There was a substantial degree of common membership as well as a certain amount of “in and out running” between the two, so that although Burlington was in abeyance for two relatively short periods, the net result was a virtually unbroken line of succession, from the time that the Lodge of Reconciliation settled and demonstrated the ritual of the three degrees, down to the foundation of Emulation.
It was on 2nd October, 1823 that the Emulation Lodge of Improvement for Master Masons first met under the sanction of the Lodge of Hope, No. 7 (in 1832 renamed Royal York Lodge of Perseverance, No. 7).
When it started working, Emulation taught the ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation by means of the Lectures, and did not begin regularly to demonstrate the actual ceremonies until some time - the exact date is uncertain - in the 1830s.
The Lectures were, in those days, the normal method of teaching the ritual, and Emulation from the beginning worked the Lectures according to The Grand Stewards' Lodge system, which incorporated the new ritual from 1815
The Grand Stewards' Lodge continued to demonstrate its Lectures at its twice-yearly Public Nights until the latter ceased to be held after 1867. Emulation adhered to that system, incorporated changes as they were introduced by The Grand Stewards' Lodge and, most important, has continued to work them regularly up to the present day.
To continue:The Silver Matchbox
The Operative Masons, or: The Worshipful Society of Free Masons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviours, Plaisterers and Bricklayers.
The Society is a regular body of speculative Freemasons, and is restricted to Master Masons who are also Royal Arch Masons.
The Society exists to perpetuate or preserve a memorial of the practices of operative Free Masons existing prior to, or continuing independently of, modern speculative Freemasonry.
It does not claim to be the successor to or connected with any former society of the same or any like name, nor that the ceremonies in fact represent precisely the practice of stonemasons, although some elements certainly reflect former practices. For instance, anyone wishing to learn the craft of stonemasonry in days gone by would do so in two ways; by either watching and practising next to an experienced workman (i.e. 'Sitting by Nellie', as it was known), or by entering into a formal apprenticeship deed with a master.
Operative or Guild Masons, were organized in England, with royal approval, dating at least from as early as the Grand Assemblage of 926 in York. It was reputed to have been authorized and encouraged by King Athelstan.
As a result of the general decline in Guild masonry, only a few operative lodges were still active in the early 1900s. Fearing that their teachings and ceremonials might eventually become lost, several operative lodges of the York Division decided that positive action should be taken to obviate this possibility.
Under the authority of the York Division, the Channel Row Assemblage was reconstituted under the present title at Bedford House, in London, on 21st May 1913. The Worshipful Society of Freemasons is governed by a Grand Assemblage, which is based in London and presided over by three Grand Master Masons.
For more:The Operatives
The Tracing Boards
As a Freemason, one of the first things you will be aware of when you enter a Lodge room are the Tracing Boards. When the Lodge is not “in session” they will be concealed, when “in session” the Tracing Board appropriate to the Degree the Lodge is in, will be displayed.
Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry.
They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members.
They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.
Operative originsThe Tracing Board is an emblem in speculative freemasonry that is derived from the tracing boards used in design and the laying out tables used in the stone yard or on the construction site by operative freemasons.
In operative times the tracing boards and laying out tables were often called trestle boards, because they were large flat boards set up on trestle legs so that they could easily be moved when required.
The master mason used the drafting or tracing board, equivalent to the modern drawing board, to prepare a general layout and the overall design for the required building. The laying out tables also were important items of equipment, because the details of the structural components and the joints required for fabrication and erection were worked out on them.These details were then transferred to working plans drawn up on the drafting or tracing board.
In its original context "to trace" did not mean "to copy" as it does in modern architectural offices. It signified to trace out or to draw, in the sense implied by the Latin word tractus, from which it was derived and come down to us through the Italian, Spanish and French languages. In the process of evolution, the word acquired many diverse meanings, including to sketch, to scheme and to devise, as well as to plan. The Fabric Rolls of the York Minster provide one of the earliest known records of the use of tracing boards in England. From the inventory of stores for 1399 we know that "ij tracyng bordes" were then in use.
In operative freemasonry the kind of laying out table or tracing board that was used varied to suit the specific purpose for which the drawings were required. For example, full-scale details of joints and special fixtures were often set out on the site of the building, using the floor as a laying out table. Details found necessary during erection of the building and therefore required for immediate use, were often sketched on a portable slate.
Archaeological excavations at several sites have unearthed slates used for that purpose and have also revealed design details that had been prepared on stone floors and on dressed stones later incorporated into the building. The final layout and detailed plans were usually drawn to scale on parchment that had been soaked and stretched wet over a drawing board, or on skins specially prepared for that purpose. In the Exeter Cathedral there are old documents recording the purchase of parchment in 1377, for preparation of the drawings required to continue the work that was begun in 1270 to transform the Norman church that had been built from 1112 to 1206. Those documents also record that a skin was purchased in 1389 for the working drawings required to complete the east window.
Here is more onTracing Boards
The Ancient Charges
There are a number of masonic manuscripts that are important in the study of the emergence of Freemasonry. Most numerous are the Old Charges or Constitutions. These documents outlined a "history" of masonry, tracing its origins to a biblical or classical root, followed by the regulations of the organisation, and the responsibilities of its different grades.
More rare, are old hand-written copies of ritual, affording a limited understanding of early masonic rites. All of those which pre-date the formation of Grand Lodges are found in Scotland and Ireland, and show such similarity that the Irish rituals are usually assumed to be of Scottish origin.
The earliest Minutes of lodges formed before the first Grand Lodge are also located in Scotland. Early records of the first Grand Lodge in 1717 allow an elementary understanding of the immediate pre-Grand Lodge era and some insight into the personalities and events that shaped early-18th-century Freemasonry in Britain.
The Regius Manuscript c. 1390
The origins of the Regius are obscure. The original is in the language of Chaucer in the form of an epic poem and was probably the work of a priest or monk who had access to older Masonic documents.
The manuscript was recorded in various personal inventories as it changed hands until it came into possession of the Royal Library, which was donated to the British Museum in 1757 by King George II to form the nucleus of the present British Library.
It came to the attention of Freemasonry much later, this oversight being mainly due to the librarian David Casley, who described it as "a Poem of Moral Duties" when he catalogued it in 1734.
It was in the 1838-39 session of the Royal Society that James Halliwell, who was not a Freemason, delivered a paper on "The early History of Freemasonry in England", based on the Regius, which was published in 1840. The manuscript was later dated to 1390.
Modern analysis has confirmed the dating to the second quarter of the fifteenth century, and placed its composition in Shropshire. This dating leads to the hypothesis that the document's composition, and especially its narrative of a royal authority for annual assemblies, was intended as a counterblast to the statute of 1425 banning such meetings.
The Regius poem sets out the basic tenets of Masonry. It contains fifteen articles and fifteen points, that are instructions to Masons on proper behaviour, conduct and manners in various places, including the workplace, the church, and with employees. Much of the fifteen articles and points deal with proper workplace conduct.
Here are the15 Articles and 15 Points
The Secret Monitor or the Brotherhood of David and Jonathan.
The Order of the Secret Monitor is one of the many small Orders that exist within the broad umbrella of Freemasonry. Although separate from Craft Masonry, you must be a member of a Craft Lodge to join.
The Secret Monitor revolves around the story of the friendship which existed between David and Jonathan, and is based upon the Book of Samuel in the VSL. It is about what course of action is to be adopted when a Brother is about to do anything which might prove injurious to himself. It also teaches an important lesson in friendship and fidelity.
For more.. click here.The meaning of 'Free' in Freemason.
When and where did the word "Freemason" originate? And what does it really mean? These are among the Craft's most enduring questions, and several answers have been proposed. The word has been in use since the 14th century, but until the modern fraternity arose in the 18th century, we find it only in a scattering of documents. And it seems no one felt the need to leave us a proper definition.
Of course, the second part is easy. It comes from the French masoun, which refers to a craftsman who works in stone, in other words a stonemason. Since the modern fraternity supposedly descended from medieval stonemasons, there's no problem here.
It's the first part of the word that causes confusion. It apparently served as an adjective to tell something about the stonemason. But what does it tell us?
For more.. click here.Freemasons and the Medieval Guilds
As Europe began to stabilize after the barbarian invasions and the fall of the Roman Empire, we begin to observe the formation of craft guilds. These organizations - which, like the collegia, offered their members mutual support, fellowship, communal banking, burial funds, etc. and were differentiated by their trade or specialization.
Some of the crafts organized into guilds were those of the carpenters, painters, tanners, cobblers, apothecaries, candle makers and, of course, the stonemasons. While essentially secular in nature, these guilds were typically allied with the church and were often assigned a certain biblical narrative - such as the Creation and Fall of Man, the Fall of Lucifer, the Raising of Lazarus or the Last Judgement - to portray in mystery plays.
Often, the subject matter was chosen in keeping with the guild's craft, as was the case with the Feeding of the Five-Thousand (assigned to the Baker's Guild) and the Building of Noah's Ark (assigned to the Carpenter's Guild).
These dramatizations, apart from being a major contributing influence on later developments in theater and the cinema in general, could comfortably be presumed to be the direct antecedent to the extra-scriptural dramas performed in Freemasonry and its appendant bodies, as the stonemason-specific narratives performed by the Fraternity are centered upon those pertaining to the building of King Solomon's Temple.
For more.. click here.Rudyard Kipling - Freemason
Rudyard Kipling is one of the giants of modern English literary history. He towered over the closing decades of the Victorian era and lived well into the twentieth century.
Rudyard Kipling was made a Mason in Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782 (English Constitution) at Lahore, Punjab, India in 1886. It required a special dispensation, because Kipling was only twenty years and six months of age at the time. The same evening that he was raised he was elected Secretary of the Lodge, so that he recorded his own initiation in the minutes of his Mother Lodge!
Only six months later he stood before his brethren, to give them good and wholesome instruction, by reading a paper "On the Origins of Masonry, and the First Degree in Particular." That was merely the beginning of a lifelong service of his heart, and mind, and pen in the interests of the Craft.
Rudyard Kipling became a Mark Master in Mark Lodge "Fidelity" on April 12, 1887, and received the Mark Mariners degree in Lodge "Mt. Ararat" at Lahore, April 17, 1888. In that year he also affiliated with Independence with Philanthropy Lodge No. 391 at Allahabad, Bengal. English Freemasonry has never prohibited dual or plural membership.
After settling in England, he also affiliated with Motherland Lodge No. 3861 in London, and helped to found two other lodges there, Lodge No. 3456 and Lodge Builders of the Silent Cities No. 4948. In 1905 he was chosen poet laureate of Scotland's famous Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge No. 2, Edinburgh, and thereby became one of the successors to the immortal "Robbie" Burns, the first to hold that distinguished Masonic office. FromThe Masonic Trowel.
For one of Kipling's more well known poems The Mother Lodge, click here...
The Stone Mason in 21st Century New Zealand
It is very easy in the 21st Century to forget that the origins of Freemasonry quite firmly lie in the medieval stone mason's Guilds and other stone masons organisations of Europe. Without them would not have had the great stone edifices that draw tourists and scholars from all over the world.
"We don't build Cathedrals now" I hear you cry, "so we don't really need stone masons, do we?" Wrong! We do!
We may not be building Cathedrals of stone (cardboard is not a long term solution), but there is much stone used in modern construction. Take a tour around any of the new housing estates and office construction sites, and you can see it for yourselves. (Drive around the modern CBD Christchurch and you can see where and how stone is used in the new office blocks.)
If you want to see the uses that stone is put to in modern buildingsclick here...
So where would I find a stone mason? A good site to look at is New Zealand Stone Mason Association. This is not a job site but has all sorts of useful information if you need the services of an accredited stone mason. To see moreclick here...
What if you want to become a stone mason? The place to look is Otago Polytechnic. For more informationclick here... This site will give you a detailed overview of what you would need to do to become a stonemason.
For more on "What is a stone mason"click here...
Who was King Solomon?
Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was according to the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, a fabulously wealthy and wise king of the united kingdom of Israel who succeeded his father, David. The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are about 970-931 BCE, normally given in alignment with the dates of David's reign. He is described as king of the United Monarchy, which broke apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone.
For more on King Solomon click here...
Who is a Master Mason?
In the Middle Ages stone was the pre-eminent building material for most major works of architecture, these would include castles, churches, manor houses, town halls, almshouses, bridges and residential houses. As such, masons were usually the senior partners in the craftsmanship that existed during any important building project.
They started learning to be a mason at an early age, as did others who wanted to learn a trade. They would start at around 14 years old and finish around 21 the time when they would be considered an adult. Then they would seek work as a Journey Man or a Fellow of the Craft while developing their skills and knowlege on their way to becoming a Master Mason.
For more about Master Masons click here...
The Tessellated Pavement in Nature
As Masons, we all know about Tessellated Pavements - we walk around them, and occasionally across them, all the time. They also occur in nature!
The isthmus connecting the Tasman Peninsula to Tasmania is covered in a pattern of regular rectangular saltwater pools. Although these depressions look distinctly manmade, they are the result of a rare type of natural erosion.
For more on this phenomena, click here...
The Walking Charge
Throughout all of Masonry our charges and rituals don't usually differ too much.
Some grand lodge jurisdictions do however have alternate charges used during some of their degrees. One of these charges, as seen here, is used by a traveling degree team within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
This charge, because of its use by the RCMP degree team, has come to be known as the Canadian Charge, though it is referred to by the RCMP degree team as the ''Walking Charge'. However, it would seem that this charge has a long history, has changed names, and has been modified throughout the past century and a half. Some of the names this charge has been known by are: On Yonder Book, the Candlelight Charge, the Walking Charge, and the Oklahoma Charge. For more information about this charge click here...
The Trestle Board Cat - We've always done it this way!
When Hiram Abif spent time in the evenings working on the designs for the trestle board of the next day, a cat that wandered around the building often made such a noise that it distracted him.
He ordered that the cat be tied up in the evening.
After his death, the cat continued to be tied up during the evening planning. When the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the work site and tied up in the evenings.
Centuries later, learned and experienced Past Masters wrote scholarly treatises about the significance of tying up a cat before planning the work of the next day.
Speculative Freemasonry - The True Story
This is the popular story: in the Middle Ages the artisans who constructed the great European cathedrals and castles were 'operative' Masons who carried their credentials in the form of modes of recognition.
They lodged on site and shared a social life. Later they were joined as 'honorary members' by outsiders interested in the symbolism of building methods and working tools. Eventually the 'speculatives' supplanted the 'operatives', and Masonry as we know it was born. For the rest of this article, click here...
The Degrees of Freemasonry
The degrees of Freemasonry have their origins in the three grades of the medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or Fellow (now called Fellowcraft), and Master Mason.
The degrees are part allegorical morality play and part lecture.
Three degrees are offered by Craft (or Blue Lodge) Freemasonry, and members of any of these degrees are known as Freemasons or Masons.
There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are usually administered by their own bodies (separate from those who administer the Craft degrees).
If you want to know more - just ask!