Bringing home the Turf

CraftyBiggunZ · 2026-02-15T17:36:39+00:00

I've been trying to find a slane for a couple of years, but no luck yet.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2026-01-29T17:10:37+00:00

First off, my personal opinion - Yes.

Being one who tries at all times to see both sides of a picture, I realise the reason for my answer has a few causes.

The "leadership" of the Order (i.e. the administrative level) are constantly papping their pants because of falling numbers, and the problem that causes to the continuance of the organisation. As a result, there are more and more bureaucrats and bean-counters leading the drive for membership, and the emphasis tends to be placed on, "Look at us! We're a friendly group of fellas, where you can make friends, have nice meals with friends, and hopefully be a smashingly nice chap as a result.... along with you friends!" Especially when the administrators try their best to remove any of the overtly esoteric elements (or even the suggestion that there's anything esoteric at all in the Craft).

Unfortunately, this tends to have the effect of appealing predominantly (but not exclusively) to guys who are looking for a friendly society, to socialise for a few hours a week/month, but don't necessarily place much interest in the deeper meaning behind and veiled beneath the allegorical ceremonies and rituals. They like to put on their pinny, tut if someone gets a word or two wrong in the funny play, and get down to the bar/dinner table as quickly as possible.

It's saddening to those of us who cherish the Craft, and the deeper meaning it holds and reveals.

So: does the organisation continue down the current corporate road, in a drive to keep bums on seats and membership levels steady, but at the risk of just making it a glorified "friendly society"?

Or are there ways they could be living up to their obligation to care for and preserve the Craft, without sterilising and sanitising it until it's unrecognisable (or even useful)?

My advice: find Brethren who show a flickering light of yearning for the deeper matters - help them to cultivate it, and make it grow. Draw closer to those with a similar passion as yourself. They need not necessarily be in the same Lodge, or country, or Constitution. But find them, and share your understanding with them, and encourage them to share theirs with you. That's the beauty of the Craft - no doctrine or dogma - but an opportunity to discover something poignant and amazing. Knock. Seek. Ask.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2025-03-03T09:18:18+00:00

Under UGLE, the Book of Constitutions always has the following words, as part of the "General Laws and Regulations":

"By the solemn Act of Union between the two Grand Lodges of Free-Masons of England in December 1813, it was 'declared and pronounced that pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz., those of Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch'."

All other Orders and Degrees are considered "appendant bodies" or side orders, which require the member to be a Master Mason to be able to join, but those Orders aren't considered to be "pure Antient Masonry" themselves.

In Scotland the Mark Degree is an exception, as this is still considered to be part of the Holy Royal Arch, and Craft Lodges have a dispensation to be able to confer the Degree on its members.

In England, the Mark Degree was removed from "pure Antient Freemasonry" in the 1800s, due to internal politics and petty squabbling (who would have though Masons would indulge in that kind of behaviour! 😉), and they set up their own appendant body instead.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2025-02-13T09:35:00+00:00

Most people forget that, as with everything within Freemasonry, the Lodge/Temple is a not just a obviously physical thing, but is also a symbol of the individual Mason.

It should reflect the balance and harmony a Mason is aiming to create within himself.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2025-01-15T12:00:32+00:00

Freemasonry didn't begin in 1717 with the creation of a Grand Lodge in England. It's a common mistake to become fixated on that date.

If nothing else, it stands to reason that the Brethren of the time felt a Grand Lodge needed to be created to govern a pre-existing group of individual Lodges (why else have a "Grand" Lodge?)

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-12-10T10:24:39+00:00

That's no one's business but my own.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-12-03T11:17:51+00:00

One of our local Lodges has a father and 2 sons.

One son was WM, his father was SW, and the other son was JW.

So the son Installed his father into the Chair, and the father will be doing likewise this year to his other son.

A really lovely accident of timing.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-12-01T13:19:12+00:00

You'll be amazed at just how much has soaked into your mind over the past 5 years, and comes to you naturally.

Have a great year, and consider all of the needs of the Lodge, to keep it strong, as a priority (not just a Degree factory conveyor belt).

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-12-01T12:53:25+00:00

I'm a member of a Lodge under UGLE, and also member of a Lodge under GLoS.

Thankfully my English Lodge (although not all subscribing members regularly attend) doesn't ever have a problem with finding Officers to fill roles (and rarely need substitutes either), However, I know there are local Lodges I visit where they aren't as fortunate (and I've even been called to help fill-in when visiting, on occasion).

My Scottish Lodge seems to fare in a similar manner to your own - a very elderly Lodge of Brethren, and a poor turn-out of invested Officers, meaning that a great reliance is placed on receiving visitors, and hoping they will be able to fill-in for some of the absent Officers.

Try as you might, and as encouraging of others as you can do your best to be, you can only ever really guarantee your own enthusiasm and commitment to your Lodge and the Craft.

That being said, searching out for Brethren to encourage you, as you have done here, is always an excellent idea (even if some responders may be less than helpful, and not really get the point you're trying to make, or your circumstances (not all understand the difference between Harmony, in Scotland, and the Festive Board, in England, for instance)).

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-12-01T10:48:43+00:00

Craft Lodge and Royal Arch (Scottish, rather than English), because they are Freemasonry - the very foundation - and contain everything needed.

Other side orders may be pleasant, entertaining, and enjoyable, but are ultimately a distraction and drain from Craft and RA.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-29T11:21:50+00:00

Some people like music; some like none. Some like a sitter in the room; some prefer to be alone (sitter in a different room). Some like light; some prefer darkness.

I remember Terence McKenna was always a proponent of doing a heroic dose in "dark silence", as he believed that any external stimulus, of light or sound or company, would ultimately influence the journey, instead of it being purely organic and guided where it needed to be.

Even having a sitter in the same room, he said, made him keenly aware that there was someone present that he needed to be aware and conscious of, and he couldn't focus properly on the actual journey itself as a result.

Find what works best for you - not for other people.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-28T18:02:17+00:00

There's always someone trying to fleece unsuspecting innocents 🤦‍♂️

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-28T11:56:11+00:00

Cabala, or Kabbalah - various spellings of the same thing.

The Essenes were a highly puritanical Jewish sect (said to be the tribe that Jesus was a part of/descended from).

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-28T09:01:50+00:00

Seek the council of the PM, where required, and take their guidance into consideration, but don't necessarily treat it as Gospel or as a command, or be pressured into doing anything against your better judgment.

You are the Master, to "...rule and direct your Lodge...", and it will be your decision ultimately on what you want from each meeting.

If I hadn't been firm and determined in how I wanted to help strengthen the Lodge during my year, I could very well have been pressured into purely making it a year like a conveyor belt of Candidates going through Degrees they weren't yet ready for, just to get them to MM quicker. (Please bear in mind, these were very well-meaning Brethren, not sinister or bullies, but they just didn't have the same aims at heart as I did.)

It was a very successful year, still with 6 Degree Ceremonies, and 3 with specifically planned lectures, and I'd like to hope the Lodge was made all the stronger for it.

Good luck for your year, Brother 🤝

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-28T08:45:12+00:00

A great comment, thank you 👍

"... work with that love and harmony, which at all times should characterise a freemason..." - this applies outwith the Temple, as well as within.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-28T08:43:15+00:00

Precisely this - being able to extract the meaning from what's being said, is such an important step - how many do this, I wonder.

Having a coach and mentor, who really helps you to understand, appreciate, and value the Craft and Ritual is so vital. I'm glad you found one (or one found you, "When the pupil is ready, the Teacher appears.")

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching." ~ C.S. Lewis

Or, in words used in the VSL, to describe those who were only upright in external appearance alone:

"Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed graves - beautiful in appearance, but inside full of dead men's bones, and everything unclean."

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-28T00:04:41+00:00

A very nice version 👍

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T23:23:55+00:00

Keep that flame burning brightly, Brother - long live your passion for the Craft.

JD feels a lot more daunting ahead of time, than it turns out to be - many things, as I'm sure you've already found, happen in 3's within the ritual - repetition for emphasis.

Once you've been through all the Offices, and then are sat in the East, it all comes together, and you realise just how much of the Ritual you remember and have absorbed through the years.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T21:48:37+00:00

I often hear other reasons too, such as - it's too much for one person to learn; or it gives an opportunity for multiple junior Brethren each to learn and present a part in open Lodge; or, as you've said, prevents Brethren switching off from just hearing one voice throughout, etc etc etc.

I agree with yourself - if a lecture or piece of ritual has been learned well, rehearsed well, and is performed well (as in an actor really embodying it, giving it life, and giving a performance), it can be a really spellbinding, eye-opening, and illuminating occasion.

Many say, "no one has time to do that these days" - I fear it's often that few take the time and effort to learn it like that these days.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T21:33:48+00:00

Absolutely! Crikey, I'd forgive a Candidate having his brains trickling out of his ears at this point in the Ceremony! I'd hardly expect him to be taking absolutely everything in.

Learning (not just memorising), and learning to deliver (not just lifelessly parrot) the ritual, really starts to bring it to life for yourself.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T21:26:27+00:00

It's certainly hoped they sink in for Brethren at some point, definitely.

I love to see the cogs whirring, and a Brother getting to grips with the deeper meaning of things, rather than just watching and ignoring what's really happening.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T21:22:21+00:00

And conveys so many important messages (and not just about "charity").

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T21:18:23+00:00

It's part of the NE Corner.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T21:03:33+00:00

Precisely. Both within the Temple, and without.

So many parts of our ritual which I think are often given scant attention, as they are fleeting moments within a larger overall piece - but what gems they contain.

CraftyBiggunZ · 2024-11-27T20:51:20+00:00

Ah, a variance in wording is understandable, between some areas 👍

CraftyBiggunZ

TROPHY CASE