After a couple of days of revising the Installation Ceremony we are back to the Degree ceremonies, and we predictably start…
Learning Masonic Ritual, Day 44 of 100: Second Degree Ceremony
So today we are back to the learning, although it is quite an easy day and you (should) already know half of it. And the other half, well, you probably already know half of that too. We start with Opening the Lodge in the First Degree (pages 42-46 in my book of Emulation Ritual), which of course we covered when learning the First Degree, then the questions to the candidate (pages 112-114).
It’s worth having a run through the First Degree opening though, you can’t practice enough, and considering every ceremony opens with this it’s worth knowing you can run through the Opening without having to worry about it.
Once the Lodge is opened we immediately jump to page 112 where the Candidate is brought up. However, the book missed out a critical line where any Entered Apprentices (apart from the Candidate) are required to leave. I suggest either: “I must now ask any Entered Apprentices, with the exception of the Candidate, to retire from the Lodge for a short while.” Or: “I must ask any Brother under the rank of Fellowcraft, with the exception of Brother Candidate, to retire from the Lodge for a short while.”
Check with your DC or Secretary to find out if there is a preference or variation in your Lodge, and if there is then make a note of it in your Blue Book and ensure you include it in your learning. It’s better to think about this now rather than have your IPM prompt you during the ceremony!
The next part is the Questions to the Candidate. I mention that you already know half of this because you learnt the answers to these questions when you were the Candidate yourself. You also probably learnt them again when you were Senior Deacon so you could prompt the candidate if required. By learning the answers you would have learnt some familiarity with the Questions, though now as Master you are taking the lead, and not responding as when you were the candidate. I for some reason struggle a little with the last two questions, and speaking to others I’m not the only one, though not sure why that would be. It would be great it you can run through this by the end of the session, but don’t worry if you don’t we are only on our first run through with learning the Second Degree.