Yesterday in our 100 Day Study Guide for Master Elects we covered a big chunk of the Second Degree ceremony, going from the end of the Obligation, Entrusting with the grip and token of the Degree, and explaining the meaning of the word. This concludes with passing the Candidate (no pun intended!!!) over to the Senior Deacon to perambulate the Candidate again around the Lodge.
This covers 7 pages of Ritual, and therefore we pick it up again at…
Revising Masonic Ritual, Day 49 of 100: Charge in the South East
Following the Perambulation the Senior Warden presents the Candidate for investing with the Fellowcraft’s Badge and giving the Charge in the South East (pages 141-143 in my book of Emulation Ritual).
The Investing with the Badge starts with a short sentence to delegate the investing to the Senior Warden which very similar to that of the First Degree. Once the Senior Warden has done that it’s explaining the future study to the Candidate. I personally can’t seem to get my head around this paragraph no matter how many times I read it. For me I think it’s going to be a case of accepting that this is an area of weakness and to pay extra attention to this in future learning sessions.
No need to panic just yet!
The Senior Deacon then moves the Candidate in preparation for the Charge in the South East. Although this straddles two pages, it is actually about 3/4 of a page, whereas the Charge in the North East (from the First Degree) is just over one and half pages, so this one is about half the length.
Actually, in Emulation Ritual the Charge in the South East is just two sentences long. However, these sentences, especially the second one, are quite long. Like we did with some of the long sentences we encounters in the First Degree, I recommend adding some of your own punctuation and breaking the long sentences down in several small ones.
The next part is the Working Tools, and like in the First Degree, we are working on the assumption that this work is being outsourced to another member of the Lodge. If it is usual for the Master to do the Working Tools in your Lodge then allow some extra time today (and tomorrow) for this.
We’re almost at the end of our initial read through of the Second Degree.