Day 85 out of 100 to Learn Masonic Ritual, and yesterday we went through the Installation, but this time without the the book to hand for prompt, but a note pad to hand to make a note of areas that require work.
That worked so well that before we go back to revising the Third Degree, we’ll have another…
Learning Masonic Ritual, Day 85 of 100: Installation Ceremony Checking
In my book Investing the Officers starts on page 214 with the IPM, then picks up with the Senior Warden on page 223, through the Offices to page 235, then Resuming is on page 68 and Closing the Lodge is pages 62-65.
So yesterday I said that instead of revising the Installation Ceremony with your Blue Book to hand for prompts and corrections, you should make a note of areas that you stick at, or aren’t too sure on, then look these up later.
I personally found this worked well for me, and ensured that my time and efforts were focused on the areas that needed it, whilst still ensuring that the rest of the ritual was not neglected. Because this worked well I have decided to repeat the exercise again today, running through the Installation Ceremony checking for parts that require additional attention.
It’ll be interesting to see how your notes of what needed work yesterday compares to today’s notes. I found that some parts I had problems with yesterday I managed to get today (partly because I focused attention on it yesterday) and also found that some bits I knew yesterday drew a mental block today. This demonstrates that although I’ve been learning the Installation not all of it is securely in my long term memory.
Once the ritual is safely in my (and your) long-term memory we can safely leave the book alone, confident that we have the correct words stored in our mind and concentrate our efforts on rehearsing.
And don’t skip on the Closing either, one of the parts that I drew a blank on today was in the Closing of the Lodge!