The most detailed and authoritive text on the true meaning of the Taylors Masonic rituals! The principal contents of this book are the Official Taylors Lectures on the Three Degrees of Craft Freemasonry. These lectures deal with the description of the ritual of those Degrees along with their moral and symbolic significance and are of a formal nature, arranged as catechisms - that is by question and answer form. The text can be studied at home or can be preformed by two or more brethren in open lodge. Much evidence suggests that many sections of these lectures are as old as the degrees themselves. This book adds much to ones enjoyment and understanding of Freemasonry.
Learn the Ritual 'Secret Weapons'... In "Learning Masonic Ritual - The Simple, Systematic and Successful Way to Master the Work", author Rick Smith has combined the Secret Weapons of Great Ritualists into a structured process that anyone can follow. Whether you're new to Freemasonry and looking for a jump-start, or you've tried and failed to learn Ritual in the past, this Three-Stage System will show you how to succeed. Most people are capable of learning and performing Ritual, but many simply haven't found the best approach. This book lays out proven techniques and methods that you can integrate into your everyday life. Eliminate the Common Mistakes... The most common mistakes are explained and removed, you are taught how to plan properly, and introduced to Tips and Tricks used by successful Ritualists to make it look easy. Learning Masonic Ritual equips you with a Complete Coaching System, emphasising Competence, Confidence and Sincerity, to achieve your goals in record time. You could spend years developing and learning these techniques by yourself, or you could master the Secret Weapons in a weekend and vastly enhance your enjoyment and understanding of Freemasonry by becoming an active participant in the Ritual of your Lodge. This version is based on English Craft Ritual; however the techniques and methods are equally valid for any Masonic Ritual system. Here are some of the Kindle Reviewers' comments; "Just finished reading this book and was enthralled by the explanation for time keeping and method of learning. I'm far from the best for remembering long passages so this will help and I will put it to the test. I've just passed to 2nd degree & will start on the 1st degree charge just so I know it. As you can imagine it's a fairly long piece and when you're standing there it's a bit daunting. Thank you for writing this and now I can use this method for future reference". - Mr G. 28 July 2013 "I wish this was available when I first joined the Craft! Essential guidance for both the new Freemason who is daunted by the work that may lie ahead, but also the seasoned ritualist whose advancing years have made it more difficult to recall and retain like he used to! Also a useful tool for Lodge Mentors to have in their armoury to encourage the less experienced mason to progress" - Jim Tull, 28th June 2013 "This book was written mostly for brothers working under the Grand Lodge of England, so the terms used for the various parts of the work, as well as some of the officers' titles can be confusing to those of us in the southern U.S., but Brother Smith still delivers a good lecture on both the joys and importance of the ritual, as well as an effective means to help learn and polish your parts. My mentor took me by a slightly different path, but I still recognized some of the things they made me do; this book offered more light on why to do it that way, and some options to improve the process. An excellent essay, and we'll worth the modest price. I'm sure these methods can be applied to all types of learning. Give it a try!" - Thomas E Ezell, July 2nd 2013 Click on Look Inside to read the first chapter FREE
In Masonic Temples, William D. Moore introduces readers to the structures American Freemasons erected over the sixty-year period from 1870 to 1930, when these temples became a ubiquitous feature of the American landscape. As representations of King Solomon’s temple in ancient Jerusalem erected in almost every American town and city, Masonic temples provided specially designed spaces for the enactment of this influential fraternity’s secret rituals. Using New York State as a case study, Moore not only analyzes the design and construction of Masonic structures and provides their historical context, but he also links the temples to American concepts of masculinity during this period of profound economic and social transformation. By examining edifices previously overlooked by architectural and social historians, Moore decodes the design and social function of Masonic architecture and offers compelling new insights into the construction of American masculinity. Four distinct sets of Masonic ritual spaces—the Masonic lodge room, the armory and drill room of the Knights Templar, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, and the Shriners’ mosque – form the central focus of this volume. Moore argues that these spaces and their accompanying ceremonies communicated four alternative masculine archetypes to American Freemasons—the heroic artisan, the holy warrior, the adept or wise man, and the frivolous jester or fool. Although not a Freemason, Moore draws from his experience as director of the Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library in New York City, where heutilized sources previously inaccessible to scholars. His work should prove valuable to readers with interests in vernacular architecture, material culture, American studies, architectural and social history, Freemasonry, and voluntary associations.
"The purpose of this work is not so much to gratify the curiosity of the uninitiated as to furnish a guide for the neophytes of the Order, by means of which their progress from grade to grade may be facilitated. Every statement in the book is authentic, as every proficient Mason will admit to himself, if not to be public, as he turns over its pages. The non-Masonic reader, as he peruses them, will perhaps be puzzled to imagine why matters of so little real importance to society at large should have been so industriously concealed for centuries, and still more surprised that society should have been so extremely inquisitive about them."-From the Preface.
Interpreting Masonic Ritual endeavors to addresses the depth of the ritualistic experience through a discussion of what ritual means to man as well as what man means to ritual. Ritual teaches us about reality but we will not come to a full understanding of it if we disparage what others do and view their actions from a position of pseudo-intellectual or cultural superiority. Ritual is the core of Freemasonry and is that thing which sets it apart from so many organizations. It is the key to the Freemason’s “secrets” and the manner through which they transmit our “beautiful system of morality.” It is something to be treasured, maintained, taught, elevated, evaluated, and, above, reinforced through proper performance, decorum, and setting.
In 1826 Robert Benjamin Folger, a recent graduate of medical school and a new Master Mason, filled a book with the enciphered Craft rituals of the Rectified Scottish Rite, a high-grade revision of the rite of Strict Observance. well-known in Europe but unknown in the UNited States. His introduction directed thatthe rituals be "committed to the Flames" upon his death. FOrtunatley for Masonic historians instructions were not followed. Folger went on to prepare at least two other books of rituals. A man of tremendous talents, strongpassions, and curious contradictions, Folger was twice expelled from Masonry by the Grand Lodge of New York and participated in at least six clandestine Supreme Councils, but died a Master Mason in good standing. The book gives full transcriptions of all og his rituals, an analysis of their place in Masonry and biographies of Folger and his major contemporaries in his Masonic work.
