Post by stepnwolf on Dec 17, 2012 23:24:18 GMT 9.5
In the time I've been here I've learned so much and have expanded my view of the Craft to an amazing degree. However, little has been said about the practical side of Masonic ritual. For example, during a passing the JW stood too close to the candle on his pedestal and set his backside on fire. What action would the BB here take? In this instance the JW just whopped his backside until the flame was out.
In a raising the Candidate became so immersed in the ceremony that he passed out at that point where he was l. l. He was out only a short time, but one of the BB, a nurse, was about to fetch smelling salts from her purse.
How long does a Bro. try to light a candle without success before he gives up and the ceremony proceeds without the light?
What to do when memory fails? At one meeting the PM was the prompter and he had already lost his place in the book. In this case, the SW fetched out his ritual and found the words that started the next sentence. Is it ever permitted to "wing it" to keep the ceremony flowing as it should.
What about memorization? Some people are gifted (I am not) and others just have to muck through somehow. In some LL. the officers simply give up and read the text. Which is worse a poorly delivered speech or an officer who rarely looks at the Candidate, because his nose is in the book? Are there any secrets of memorization the forumites use?
Does masonic ritual have a style? We've all attended meetings where we were impressed with the military precision of the BB. Then we've probably also attended meetings which have a certain softness, where the words are delivered with the feeling of reality. Which is preferred?
I used to belong to an AMORC lodge and when an officer made an error there was a semi-silent disapproving in-breath around the temple. While the error had little effect the emotional and mental reaction always reduced the quality of temple energies.
Some years later I joined a Co-Masonic lodge and when an error was made the brethren smiled tolerantly and I noticed that the energy in the temple was not adversely affected.
I might propose that the most important prerequisites for effective practical ritual in approximate order of importance are:
- brotherly love (good will) - intention to connect with what is higher (the GAOTU) - several competent brethren - geometrical set up of the temple - a good candidate.
If the above are present then the lodge may well receive Light and blessings from on high.
>Is it ever permitted to "wing it" to keep the ceremony flowing as it should.
I did that the other day. I was SD and introducing the new FC to the JW and forgot what to say to identify the p-g..p so put something in that I recalled from the second degree from another Masonic order. Later the Secretary said what a good job I did. I pointed out that I had interpolated some words but he did not mind. It was however in a Scottish lodge and they all seem to have different rituals.
The establishment of printed rituals is relatively recent in Masonic history - since the 18th century. Even now there are still lodges that learn the ritual by heart as in older times. In the absence of a printed ritual the brethren were able to improvise to suit the situation and the candidate.
>In some LL. the officers simply give up and read the text.
More important than recitation or reading is the ability of the officer to visualise the inner process being referred to by the text. Too many candidates stand there receiving a charge with glazed eyes as it washes over them. This, in my view, is primarily because the officer delivering the charge is not doing any inner work. It is just a stream of words.
>the words are delivered with the feeling of reality
If the ritual is not connected to reality, of what value is it? Military precision has value where it conforms the lodge movements to the geometric flow of energies. Of course it helps to have some idea of what those flows might be.
>Do we ever get help from "the other side?"
Certainly, if the lodge or the candidate is worthy. But the help may be in the form of a flow of Light that the officers find difficult to handle. Blankness of mind is a common symptom. I recall delivering the EA working tools for the umpteenth time and getting stuck unable to remember the word "speculative".
There are various flows of energy that may be observed:
- Light from above into the candidate at obligation - Light from the East that flows like a liquid filling up the temple from the floor - even up to shoulder height - Light through the stations of the JW and SW - Flows along the lines of the pavement, reversing direction every 10 minutes or so
There may also be over-lighting of individual officers.
>Are there any secrets of memorization the forumites use?
I found it difficult to memorise the charge for the MM working tools. So I imagined a sequence of moves across the floor of the temple and interactions with the lodge furnishings that reflected the phrasing of the charge.
Once I had the charge flowing as a sequence of images it was just a matter of learning it twice as well as I thought it required.
When I memorise a sentence, I also include the first word or two written after the full stop, this leads into the next sentence quite naturally.
Also, I can usually visualise in my mind the page of ritual being worked and if I get lost I look for where the missing word would be on the page and it usually reveals itself.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth
