We have now been learning Masonic Ritual every day for four weeks. We covered a lot of ground, we’ve learnt and revised what you need to do for your Installation into the Chair (and we’ll be doing more revision and rehearsal to ensure you are word perfect by Day 100 – the day before your Installation). We have also covered the majority of the First Degree, though this is more of an exercise in getting familiarity with the Ritual and learning the flow, we’ll really work on learning it, revising and rehearsing that in the weeks coming up to that ceremony. That gives us 73 more days to finish of the First Degree, take the first steps in the Learning the Second (which is shorter) and the Third, as well as Installation revision and rehearsal. Easy! So yesterday the Candidate was Invested with the Badge, and it was further explained to him, finishing with moving the Candidate to the North East part of the Lodge, ready for
Learning Masonic Ritual, Day 28 of 100: Charge in the North East
In some Lodges this piece may be outsourced to a Past Master so check with your DC, however, it isn’t huge piece so more often than not it is expected to be presented by the Master, (in my book of Emulation Ritual this is on pages 97-98).
The Charge in the North East itself is two paragraphs, but looking at it you’ll see they are quite long paragraphs, so it will help when learning to try and break in down into smaller chunks. I often think that new Masons would find learning the Ritual easier if the layout in the blue book shortened paragraphs into more managable sizes, and some of the grammar was edited to reduce the length of some of the long and winding sentences! I’d suggest breaking it down into the following sections:
- Explanation of the cornerstone, and that the candidate represents it,
- That they now stand upright (just the single sentence),
- You’ll be testing principles,
- Explanation of charity,
- All walks of life in Freemasonry,
- Test principles by asking for a donation.
Hopefully you can follow the Charge in North East in your blue book and see where I have suggested it is broken into easier sections. If you find it easier to put the splits in other places then do, or you may wish to break it down into just sentences; and even break the longer sentences down further too.
We now hand over to the Junior Deacon. Technically this, and the Master’s work that follows it, falls within the Charge of the North East, but we’ll cover that tomorrow.
Just a quick note now that I am assuming that the Working Tools and the Charge After Initiation will be outsourced. Often the Working Tools are done by a Master Mason who is working their way through the Offices, giving them an opportunity to get practice with floor-work, and the Charge After Initiation given by a past Master of the Lodge. It may be that if you are doing two First Degrees during your term in office you could outsource this work in the first time around, then do it all yourself the next time when you are more experienced and confident. 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.