Originally posted by MrNECROS

As is noted in earlier chapters, perusal of this book by Freemason?s who have not already attained the various degrees is severely punishable ? don?t let your Worshipful Master catch you peeking at this book or you?ll get the Masonic boot from your lodge.

The book is over a hundred years old. Freemasons don't get "booted" from a lodge for reading literature.

As for fighting the "forces of evil"? Maybe you should try fighting the "forces of ignorance" first.
They seem to have taken over your life.

Leveller, you are right on about this, there is no book or other media that I know of that reading or owning could possibly result in expulsion. this would include tomes of a nature that would conflict with Masonry. Masonry is about enlightenment, and embraces the quest for truth, a point that should be taken by the uninitiated, the only reason that can result in expulsion is a Mason's personal conduct.

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Mirthful Me]

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Mirthful Me]

Also, that Ritual bears strong resemblance to the 32° of the Cerneau Rite, which was published by Rev. Jonathan Blanchard in his “Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated” in 1869. This was based on the Morin Patent of the Rite of Perfection from France, where the degree of Prince of the Royal Secret was the 25th.
Brother Albert Pike’s first revision of the Scottish Rite ritual, beginning in 1855, eliminated most of the chivalric content in the degree. By 1871, when Pike’s final revision was approved by the Supreme Council, all references to French Jacobite Masonry had been expunged.
Since 1871, the Supreme Council 33° for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States recognizes the Pike Version as the correct Work. Brother Pike presented his revised Ritual to Illustrious Brother Thornton Jackson, 33°, Grand Commander of the Prince Hall Supreme Council, who also adopted the Pike work.
In the 1940’s, the official name of the degree was changed to Master of the Royal Secret in the Mother Jurisdiction, although some jurisdictions continue to call it Prince of the Royal Secret.
The Officers of a Consistory of Masters of the Royal Secret are as follows:

Master of Kadosh (who presides)
Prior
Preceptor
Chancellor
1st Lt.
2nd Lt.
Almoner
Recorder
Sentinel

Descriptions of the ceremonies of this Degree, and commentaries thereon, can be found in the following books:

“A Bridge To Light” by Dr. Rex R. Hutchens, 33°, G.C.
“The Magnum Opus” by Albert Pike, 33°
“Clausen’s Commentaries On Morals and Dogma” by Henry C. Clausen, 33°
“Vested In Glory: The Regalia of the Scottish Rite” by Dr. Jim Tresner, 33°, G.C.
“Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry” by Albert G. Mackey, 33°

A comparison of the ritual posted by “Mr. Necros” with the descriptions of the actual degree ritual illustrates the fundamental differences, as well as why uninformed non-Masons like Necros have difficulty separating fact from fiction, and understanding Freemasonry.

Fiat Lvx.





[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Masonic Light]

Skewering them with the fine points again ML. It never amazes me that someone can focus onto a small piece of information and act like they have unlocked the Rosetta Stone. As demonstrated time and time again all anyone has to do is ask, and the information will be provided (save a few small tokens and words).

Just one problem with you dismissal - this book was published in 1884.
Actually your whole reply is a bunch of waffle, no matter this whole exercise is about you not me.
I'm interested in how you present a myriad of disinformation, usually unrelated to the posting and then claim it is conclusive proof that the original posting was completely false.
Are you consciously or unconsciously providing all these false or irrelevant facts?
The same answers are given to different questions, often without any real relevance.
I found that most disinformers are relatively high up the pyramid, usually in the 15-18th degree bracket - I originally guessed you to be an Intendant of the Building as your position here on this BBS appears to be a full time occupation for you.
Perhaps you are reporting to a Prince of Jerusalem or a Knight Rose Croix?
Do they whisper these nonsense’s into your ear or have you got a cheat sheet of ready to go cut’n’paste?

Blah, blah, blah.

You pull others over facts and yet I've never seen you post anything other than speculation yourself. And to tell the truth, it's very questionable speculation too.

As for guessing who is what? The guys here have already told you what postions they hold within masonry.
Accusing others of cut and paste is a pretty hypocritical thing of you to do too. All you ever do is cut and paste to try to support your whacked out hatreds.

"Perhaps you are reporting to a Prince of Jerusalem or a Knight Rose Croix".
You seem to have used that line just to make it look like you know something about masonry. The fact is that it shows that you don't.

When you are provided with fact you don't have the brains to recognise it as such.
You've already proven yourself to be a liar and a fraud. Now you're just proving yourself to be shallow and tedious.

Perhaps you are reporting to a Prince of Jerusalem or a Knight Rose Croix?
Do they whisper these nonsense’s into your ear or have you got a cheat sheet of ready to go cut’n’paste?

Freemasonry Watch was always the king of the cheap shots.

You can not take on ML in an open debate he would tear your so called facts to pieces so you have to resort to sly remarks.

Lets see some reasoned argument, lets see some facts, lest see you debate without the standard put downs.

You seem to fall into that entrenched band of people who, in order to make themesleves blameless, blame everyone else for everything. Masons , Catholics, Mormons poor old Harry Potter is even in the firing line.

I would invite everyone to have a look at Freemasonry Watch site.

Old Watchy knows he too is being watched.

Blah, blah, blah? If only MrNECROS was this coherent! As a Low Lackey of the Nite of Stinkweed 39 11/13 degree, I do protest your insinuation that ML is engaging in disinformation. The desire of some evil hierarchy is ludicrous (I'd say tedious, but Leveller already did). What you have come upon is the basic stage setting, including costume and makeup, list of characters, and outline of the 32nd degree which is communicated by performing a play! A skit! A staged reenactment of Masonic lore. Sherlock you're not, because there are far more interesting aspects of Freemasonry than what you choose to dwell upon.

A 32nd Degree Endowed Member
Orient of New Mexico
Valley of Santa Fe


[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Mirthful Me]

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Mirthful Me]

Mr. Necros:

Why don't you join and find out for real rather than speculate?

Originally posted by Mirthful Me

[deletia]

What you have come upon is the basic stage setting, including costume and makeup, list of characters, and outline of the 32nd degree which is communicated by performing a play! A skit! A staged reenactment of Masonic lore. Sherlock you're not, because there are far more interesting aspects of Freemasonry than what you choose to dwell upon.

[deletia]

... and this isn't even the right info for any 32nd degree done under the jurisdiction of any recognised Supreme Council 33^o in North America, AFAIK. This bears only the vaguest superficial resemblance to what we do in Canada. I did want to note that we do do things a little differently up here, since many of you seem to be in the SJ of the US, and not aware that some of our SR degrees are fairly different.

I also wanted to say that I do not entirely agree with you, MM, when you say that there are far more interesting aspects of Masonry than the degree rituals (if that's what you meant, I could have misinterpreted you). Especially in the SR, the degrees are full of fascinating meaning and history, and even the setup and regalia are communicating something.

Mr. Necros does seem very upset, and he is referring to Freemasonry Watch, which is a website made, I must say, by one of my compatriots (i.e. a Canadian). I'm not sure I understand why either one is upset. I wish, Mr. Necros, that you'd clearly state what you think is wrong with Freemasonry, so perhaps we could put your mind at ease.

Also, I'd like to note that I do not appreciate anyone challenging the validity of my 32nd degree, or that of my brethren here. We were all given the 32nd degree in extensio in a properly formed lodge of SPRS, and under the auspices of our respective internationally recognised Supreme Councils 33^o (in fact, I will show my own pride by saying that the Sovereign Grand Commander of Canada's council, a friend of mine, was at my conferral ). We are all Freemasons who have experienced the 32nd degree ritual, yet you claim we know less about the SR degrees than you do... how can that be? We have access to the same information you do, plus additional information.

In any event, I do not mean to get frustrated with you, Mr. Necros, but I wish you'd communicate why you are so upset.

No disagreement with the general track of your thoughts AK, but when dealing with the uninitiated (MrNECROS) the fine details of which version of ritual is used and in what jurisdiction (The SJSR has recently undergone a major revision) is irrelevant and not a topic for a public form. That the degrees are conferred through a communication (IE watching an act or acts of a play, skit et al) is relevant to the general misunderstanding of the fearful conspiritorists. The focus time and time again (thru careful analysis of similar threads) is the intense desire to find the "smoking gun" of Masonry. The masses want the page that calls for the smell of sulphur, the dread approach of cloven hooves, and the wrenching of immortal souls from faithful breasts; or maybe the mahogany room filled with cigar smoke as pudgy ring covered fingers holds the pen that signs all freedom and liberties away. The people that seek these things have blinders to the beauty of enlightenment, and therefore could never realize the more noble and useful purpose of the documents they scour or the rituals they purport to be familiar with. This is why I reiterate there are more fascinating aspects Freemasonry that could be discussed in open forum. Otherwise we are reduced to who was better, Curly or Shemp? We all know it's Curly but I digress...

Alex,

Thanks for posting that link. That 18° Ritual is similar to that as practiced in the Mother Jurisdiction, although by no means identical. Nevertheless, it bears a strong resemblance to the old French Rite of Perfection's 18°, and is probably at least reasonably accurate, at least as far as Australian Masonry is concerned.
One interesting point is that the Ritual presented confers the degrees of the 4° through the 17° simply by proclamation, a point I've made previously, but one which Necros has either failed to understand or just plain lied about.

Fiat Lvx.

I am a 32nd Degree Mason, a Knight of St. Andrew and a Master Mason. I am the chaplain of Florida's oldest established Lodge.

And I doubt that anything I say will change a conspiracist's mind. However, to make this short, Masons are not involved in any conspiracy to take over the world. They do not worship evil. Atheists and the irreligious are not allowed to join any Masonic Lodge.

The society's reason-to-be is as a charitable organization. Masons work hard at this. It has never been intended to be a substitute for religion but is, instead, a manner of fulfilling one's religious obligations to serve others less fortunate.

Anyone with any other goal should not seek to join Masonry.

Robert Walker O'Neal, MS-M www.onealclan.com

Originally posted by 2012
The society's reason-to-be is as a charitable organization.

I certainly agree that Masons do indeed labor intensely at charity. However, I must disagree that the fraternity exists only to be a charitable organization. After all, the fraternity existed long before it established official philanthropies.
This is not to downplay the importance of charity. Actually, charity is the first lesson a man learns as an Entered Apprentice. But charity is a side effect, rather than the primal purpose, of Freemasonry. If Freemasonry were only a charitable society, it would not consist of our Traditions, Ancient Usages, and Degrees of Philosophy and Science. There are other organizations in existence, such as Habitat For Humanity, which exist only for charity. But Freemasonry is much more than these organizations, and is primarily educational and spiritual, which in turn gives rise to its charitable viewpoints.

Fiat Lvx.

Albert Pike said in Morals and Dogma p. 50 that, "Because true Masonary, unemasculated, bore the banners of Freedom and Equal Rights, and was in rebellion against temporal and spiritual tyrany, its Lodges were proscribed (denounced) in 1735, by an edict of the states of Holland.

To make a long story short, Masons could be punished, even put to death by Pope Clement XII because of Heresy which is a differing oppinion in doctrine.

Dunno why I'm still posting to this thread - the link was provided and none of you seem to want to comment on the posted topic - so far I have all sorts of rants "playing the man and not the ball."
I have posted a quite clear description of the 32nd Degree as presented in "The Book of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry (1884)" and anyone who can read English will see it is as claimed.

On a side note Masonic Lite is providing me with some interesting insite to his actual degree, as I go through his postings it is starting to look like he is actually a lot higher up in the ranks than I first thought.

Incidentally "Fiat Lux" is the motto for the 20th Degree "Grand Master of All Symbolic Lodges", one who can assume the the gavel in ANY symbolic lodge providing there are none present superior in rank.