Some Mason Material

Okay, somehow a friend of mine showed up as my house with "something to show me" he produced a small black book about the size of one of those pocket bibles. After I started flipping through It I was thorougly intrigued. From what I could read in the parts written in plange english, it seems to be some kind of Masonic handbook. The odd part is large segments of it are not written in plain english, but some broken up langauge, which I think might be short-hand, but I'm not completely sure, so I figured someone here would be more up-to-date on the Masons and could shed some light on this for me. I have three scans from various places in the book, which I uploaded to a site of mine (they were too big to upload to ATS, and might take a bit of time for 56k users)

Scan1
Scan2
Scan3

Well well, scan 3 has a prayer to Lucifer, itsn't that sweet.

Where does it say a prayer to lucifer?

Scan 2, 2: U Wl:

You will ascertain if all persons are Entered Apprentice Masons.

Senior Deacon takes North, Junior Deacon takes South. If unknown is found he should ( heck if I know ).

D? faces West and reports to Senior Warden as follows:

Scan 1 is the layout of a masonic temple. ask your local lodge when they next have a open day and you can see for yourself.

Scan 2 and 3 are various parts of the ritual.

I dont see anywhere a prayer to Lucifer. I see a prayer but you have to understand Freemasonry is not a religion and never has been. before all meetings a prayer is said just as they are in various other different associations. So as an association that admits Hindus Muslims and Christians etc would it be right to pray purely to a Christian God.

alternateheaven, can you disypher some of that writting. i cant make it out. this stuff seems very interesting, maybe you can scan some more.

Why does everyone seem to think masons worship satan. Just because they are a group or club that does things behind closed dorrs people flip out. Most people make their own secret clubs when they are kids. They have a group. So what. They freeking give like over a million dollars a day to hospitals for children. I dont care if they worchip satan (which they dont), they contribute to society.

Scan 1 is a layout of the Lodge.

Scan 2 is a portion of the opening of the Lodge in the first, or Entered Apprentice degree.

Scan 3 is portion of the FellowCraft or second degree.

While this ritual is not of my jurisdiction, it is easy to follow. There is no prayer to Lucifer...it is a prayer to God.

If I said to you, "It's all up to the big guy upstairs", you know who I mean. Calling God the "Great Architect of the Universe" is no different in a Lodge.

It seems fairly simple to read. The first and usually last letter of each word are there, and sometimes more.

"In t nm of G nd t H Sts J, I nw dclr Ldg No. dly op in fm on t scnd dg of Msy."

what I can get: In the name of God and the ? ? ?, I now declare lodge number (insert number) ? open in from one to second degree of Masonary(?).

Maybe one of the masons here can tell me if I'm even close?

[Edited on 11-18-2003 by JFetch]

[Edited on 11-18-2003 by JFetch]

hey why don't u scan the whole book and post it on ats dude?

thats a good idea, scan the most interesting parts and post them on here.

I think I'm going to work on that, but unfortunately its going to take a while because I dont have a page scanner at home, so my college library is my only option at the moment.

I'm fairly sure its written in short hand, so i've been looking for an application to translate it, if anyone can help with this either post here or u2u me.

yea scan it for all its gory detail... unfortunately there are already sites available where this has been done. that book in question actually dosn't look anything like any of the English constitutions ritual books, or from my experience any of the modern ones in general. The books in England are printed in plain English so anybody can read them, mason or non mason alike. the only parts missing are the few private words we keep to ourselves. so it could be
1. An american ritual book of a working Ive not come across.
2. A now defunct or outdated ritual book
3. A ritual book belonging to a pseudo-masonic organisation like the order of the Eastern Star, or types of co or womens freemasonry.

At the moment Im with number 3 as I dont recognise some of the phrases, or the placements in the Lodge, but a few more pages could be useful.

On page one it states that a chaplain and marshall is not required in each hall.

Therefore I surmise that faith and law and order are negotiable for masons?

I think All Seeing Eye is talking about the first line ' Great Architect of the Universe'. Anyone who knows something about Satanism, knows that architect is what they class satan as, not as a god entirely

To the Neo.

I assume that you think by having no marshall that Law and order are not important. wrong. the marshall in question does not refer to a Law officer. A marshall is an official who organises ceremonies and events, in the English constitution there is no rank of Marshall but instead called The Director of Ceremonies and is an optional officer, as for Chaplain, I do know of any Lodge that does not have a chaplain even though it is an optional Officer. the Chaplain is a rank and not an ordination and when chaplains are not present the prayers are said by another Senior Past Master or the Master of the Day.

Ozzie,

you already answered my question in the affirmative.

just reread your reply to me.

wrong again.. the purpose of the meeting is ceremonial and a committee meeting, why would there be a Law officer or a chaplain.

1. no religious discusion is permitted in our meetings.
2. we are not a religous order.
3. and its hardly breaking any laws so no need for law enforcement

first of all I am quoting the scan of a supposed masonic document, do you identify with this, yes or no?

secondly you said about a marshal: an official who organises ceremonies and events

sounds close enough to a legal entity to me?

thirdly you said about a Chaplain: when chaplains are not present the prayers are said by another Senior Past Master or the Master of the Day

so you admit that chaplains lead prayers? NO?

now for you from:

web.mit.edu...

Is Freemasonry a religion?
No, Freemasonry is not a religion. Masons who treat it as such are mistaken. Freemasonry strongly encourages its members to belong to an established religion, although that is not a requirement for membership (only that a candidate profess a belief in a Supreme Being). Masonry is a fraternal organization that encourages morality and charity and studies philosophy. It has no clergy, no sacraments, and does not promise salvation to its members.

But what about terms like "Temple," "Worshipful," and so on?
Labor unions meet in a Labor Temple. A museum may be called the Temple of Fine Arts. This does not mean that they are religious institutions. The same is true of Freemasonry. (Masonic buildings are also called Lodge Halls and Masonic Centers as well as Masonic Temples. Some Scottish Rite buildings are called "Cathedrals," but that is from a Greek word meaning "chair," and referring to the seat of authority of any sort.)

The term "worshipful" stems from 18th century English usage, when Freemasonry in its present form was being organized. The term has nothing to do with religious worship but is an old synonym for "honorable" or "respected." Check any good dictionary!

Similarly, Freemasons engage in group prayer and have a chaplain, just as do the armed services and the houses of Congress. That does not make Masonry into a religion.


- My point is this, what is Freemasonry then? It is some kind of religious experience you cannot deny that.
Is is a cult?

Another question is what do you get out of it? What need in you're life does being a member of a secret organization fufill. Common sense tells you that a secret organization must be secret for a reason. What is the reason? What are you hiding? What does do the freemasons do? Every group starts for a reason, otherwise why have regular meetings? Why all the symbols, titles, and secret words? If you want people to not be suspicius of you, quit acting like you're doing something wrong.