Originally posted by RedOctober90
I managed to get ahold of an actual freemasonary ritual book that someone in New Jersey used to practice freemasonary, one portion of the book was in this strange coded text that I couldn't understand. If I rememmber clearly the book had a section where the opening ritual was in plain text, step by step..
We call those "cipher" rituals. Some jurisdictions authorize them and some do not, but rely on "mouth to ear" instruction in the ceremonies. I collect such rituals and it's interesting to see what various jurisdictions consider to be "secret" For example the Opening & Closing ceremony in Missouri is written in "code" or "cipher" but as you mentioned in a New Jersey version, and in Kentucky's version, the ceremonies are written out in plain English. Some jurisdictions, Illinois, Arizona and Michigan, for example, have the ENTIRE text written out in plain English. ...just depends on the Grand Lodge's preference I suppose.
Regards



