Day 30 of 100, we’re not even a third of the way through and already we’ve learnt and revised the Investiture of the Officers and Closing required for the Installation Ceremony to a good standard (although more revision and rehearsal will be allowed for to make it perfect); and after today’s session we’ll have completed our first learning of the entire First Degree Ceremony – not bad for a month’s work! So yesterday we explained the importance of charity to Freemasons, we have skipped the First Degree Working Tools as this is usually done by another member of the Lodge, so now it’s…
Learning Masonic Ritual, Day 30 of 100: First Degree Charter and Closing the Lodge
The explanation of the Charter of the Lodge also includes giving the Candidate the Book of Constitutions and By-Laws of the Lodge; as well as letting the Candidate leave the Lodge and return (in my book of Emulation Ritual this is on pages 101-103). Because the Charge After Initiation is usually given by a Past Master who isn’t holding an Office this year we are skipping over that and going straight to Closing the Lodge (pages 60-65). I did consider splitting this up but we’ve already covered it when we were learning and revising the Installation ceremony, so you should be pretty up to speed on it.
Please though do check with the DC of your Lodge, and if it is expected for you to do the Working Tools or Charge after Initiation then ensure you incorporate some additional time into the study schedule. We start by explaining that the Candidate will need to pay his initiation fees, but before so we explain under what authority the Lodge acts.
This leads to introducing the Charter of the Lodge. To aid learning I would break this paragraph at this point, and start a new one when giving the Candidate the Book of Constitutions and By-Laws of the Lodge. The final paragraph is short enough and written in quite a more modern style so shouldn’t be much trouble to learn, though the last couple of lines may need a couple of additional read throughs to make it flow naturally.
Well, that concludes the first reading through of the First Degree ceremony. You won’t be anywhere near word perfect at the moment, but we’ll have another run through it over the coming week.
This 100 Day study plan is to get you ready for your Installation, and get a good grounding in the other ceremonies, so don’t fret too much! You should be up to speed with the Closing, though do have a run through – I did and realised there was a short part that I had forgotten. Well done for working through the whole ceremony (including Opening and Closing) in 13 days, two of which were spent on the Obligation.