Simon's Fast Track Masonic Education

Transcription

1 Masonic Education Basics By Simon Pierce Simon's Fast Track Masonic Education By improving your Masonic education within your Lodge, you, personally, gain knowledge of the craft of Freemasonry and help to improve Masonic retention of your brethren. "To set the Craft to work...and give them good and wholesome instruction for their labors" I'd like to help you learn basic lodge-level Freemasonry via my Fast Track, Fat-Free method of online Masonic education to save you thousands of hours in your quest for Masonic knowledge. If you are in a hurry, you can find all the pages on this website on my SiteMap. If you would like to quickly look up a word on this website, you can use the Site Search button. Both are located at the top of the left navigation bar. The Mission Statement of this Website is a simple one: Masonic education builds Masonic retention. What is a Fast Track Masonic education? You re a busy person. You need the right process and the right tools to help you remove the barriers and mysteries of Freemasonry,... correctly applied in a simple, step-by-step, easy to learn manner. This helps you learn Freemasonry basics in a few well-spent hours compared to many frustrating years. What does Fat-Free mean? Long, wordy, books take time to read. Wouldn t it be wonderful if you didn t have to comb your lodge library, the public library and all your neighborhood bookstores to find: 1. The unspoken rules of Masonic Etiquette...all in one place? 2. What the biblical verses within the 3 degrees actually mean especially the third degree verse? 3. Each lodge officers duties and his corresponding jewels of office all on 1 page?

2 How much time would this save you? Fat-Free Masonic education helps you learn the Masonic craft without your needing to laboriously find, buy and read the many Masonic books...if you can find them... from which each of the above items were researched and organized into one, simple, easy-to-learn, Fat-Free (non-wordy) page. Take action to feel the true rewards of Freemasonry possibly even before your next lodge meeting! Help For the Lodge Education Officer Are you your Lodge s Masonic Education Officer and have quickly come to the realization that your Lodge Library contains absolutely nothing really helpful with which to train a new brother to bring him up in the Craft? Sure, it has quite a few Freemason books...mostly either very old, very deep and scholarly or whole sets of Encyclopedias of Masonic Knowledge but nothing basic enough to help YOU with the job of training a new member. You have at your fingertips pounds and pounds of books filled with Masonic info, but unless you choose to begin reading them aloud to your new members at each of your Education meetings, (snore),... it's going to be very difficult to impart a basic knowledge of Freemasonry in your time allotted. Lodge education officers should feel free to read, print and use each of the pages on this website at their Education Meetings. Training Masonic Apprentices Or...maybe you want to begin Training Masonic Apprentices, and you found an old Entered Apprentice Quiz, Fellowcraft Quiz and Master Mason Quiz in one of the library drawers,... but none of them have Answer Sheets and you have nothing for the student to study from to be able to TAKE the Masonic education quiz. So what is the fastest way to learn Masonic craft...and where do you begin? Right here Are you a new Master Mason who is trying to learn: 1. Freemasonry Symbols 2. Masonic Etiquette learning Blue Lodge Do's and Don ts? 3. Masonic Words and Phrases like cowan, profane, diurnal, etc.? 4. Why Masonry is the oldest fraternity in the world? 5. What binds it together? Are You Soon To Be The Master Of The Lodge?...Or, perhaps you are the Senior Warden who will be Master of the Lodge next year. You already know a lot about Freemasonry; perhaps you are even a Masonic

3 scholar. You re pretty good with Freemason ritual work, but as its Worshipful Master, you are aware that, essentially, you are the CEO of your Symbolic Lodge and would like to make your year be remembered as a great year. So, without having to re-read the entire Masonic Library; you just want to brush-up on a few things to school yourself in preparation for your year. If so, please read the page entitled "Lodge Master". It will help you, as the new Master of the Lodge, get up to speed, fast. Learn How To Delegate Responsibilities to Lodge Committees: 1. Learn and direct proper procedures for each lodge committee: How to: A. Perform proper lodge audits. B. Perform a proper Masonic investigation. C. Help each lodge committee learn why their specific task is necessary to create a fully functional lodge. 2. Increase Masonic Education and Masonic Retention through creating an Education Officer position and a Mentor Program, thus fulfilling your Grand Lodge s expectations. 3. Be a good Masonic Host at events after all, you re the man wearing the Master s hat, so everyone is looking to you for direction! Learn Other Names for the Masonic Lodge Historically, there are many names for the Lodge. In various lodges around the world, it is called a Masonic Lodge, a Blue Lodge, a Symbolic Lodge, an Ancient Craft Lodge, a Craft Lodge or St. John s Lodge. All are correct. There are thousands of Masonic books written about Freemasonry. Many Freemason books are excellent reading resources, however, it can be a lifelong pursuit to truly understand the basic Masonic lodge fundamentals of what Masonry is really about. Educating yourself, book by book is a worthwhile, but usually a tremendously long and time consuming process over many years. Learn Lodge Officer Duties and Masonic Emblems Learn the expected duties of each lodge officer, as well as the meaning of their Masonic emblems..their Masonic Jewel of office, each represent. (See the page entitled Lodge Officer Duties under Lodge Administration on the left-hand Navigation Bar).

4 Fast Track Masonic Education Training 1. Entered Apprentice Quiz, Fellow Craft Quiz, Master Mason Quiz 2. Entered Apprentice Mason Training 3. Historical significance of why Freemasons wear a Masonic Signet Ring. Educate Yourself in Lodge Fundamentals You will find information, here, to take the mystery (and a lot of the work) out of learning the craft of Freemasonry.. Whether you are studying for one of the three degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft or Master Mason degree). Or are ascending (coming up) through the twelve officer chairs to, one day, graduate toward becoming the Worshipful Master,...the Master of the Lodge...you will learn each Lodge Officers' duties. (See Lodge Administration). Meaning of the Masonic Third Degree You will learn the meanings of the biblical words in Masonic Degree Verses,... especially in the Masonic third degree and what each of the 3 degrees represent. Lodge Education is the beginning of true knowledge. Masonic knowledge opens the door to understanding. And, much like King Solomon s wisdom in biblical times of laying a strong foundation for his Temple (edifice); our full understanding of the Masonic Craft becomes necessary to fully embrace its rays of light. Freemasons Secrets There is nothing esoteric (mysterious) about Freemasonry except the grips, passwords, penal signs and ritual work. This website does not address these. You will learn these in your Mother lodge the Lodge in which you were or will be raised to the degree of Master Mason. Freemason Symbols and Masonic Words and Phrases Masonic Education: This is how Freemasonry has survived through the centuries. Like your predecessors, you will learn the Masonic Freemason symbols which have come down to us through the generations not just from books, the Old Charges (old manuscripts, Old Charters), engravings and Masonic ritual and degree work;...but through the Masonic mentoring (nurturing) of each of its members, fellow Brother Masons coaching and helping each other in their quest for Masonic knowledge.

5 Monitorial Masonic Education: This monitorial education (a method of one-on-one, mouth-to-ear training)...or in this case, one-to-many, eye-to-screen training), is performed by Masonic mentors who tutor each new member of the brotherhood in the sometimes archaic (seldom used in modern language) Masonic words contained within Masonic literature. They teach (inculcate) their brothers about Freemasonry's biblical (Holy Book) history, its age-old tenets (principles), and the discipline and guidance each man needs as we fulfill our moral and social responsibilities to one another. The monitorial Masonic education on these pages is performed via a Fast Track (step-by-step, easy-to-read, easy-to-understand), Fat-Free (non-wordy, Get-Miles- Get-Home) methodology. Do not mistake these words to mean a quick and sloppy "1-Day-Class" approach... or as "Freemasonry-Lite"... In fact, you will find it to be just the opposite. When you complete your Masonic studies learned on this website, you will have attained a truer understanding of that which you seek (and have saved yourself several hundred or several thousand hours in the process). What is True Masonic Brotherhood?...And, as the light becomes brighter, the Bible (or other Holy Book within your own religion) will begin to come alive to you...its pages filled with real people who were our ancestors. Jerusalem will cease to be just an ancient city on a map in the Middle East filled with centuries of war and unrest. You will come to understand that Abraham (Father of all the Nations in the world) begat 2 sons: Isaac (ancestor to the Christian and Judaic nations) and Ishmael (ancestor to the Arab nations). With this knowledge, your comprehension of our Creator's true meaning of "brotherhood" across the nations of the world, will unfold. Do You Want to be a Masonic Mentor? As we plumb the depths of basic Free Masonry; I will be your Masonic mentor. As your Masonic knowledge becomes wisdom, it is my hope that you will pay-itforward and soon choose to become a Masonic mentor to the new brothers within your lodge. Point them to this website and then discuss with them what you both have learned.

6 Mentoring new Mentors: It is my belief that Masonic education creates Masonic retention...so, please, don't wait until you feel you have become a "bejeweled" Masonic scholar to begin mentoring others. The next time you are called to Refreshment, choose one of the numerous topics on these pages and tell your brothers what you have learned, or choose one of the Masonic Talks and present it at your next meeting. As your understanding of Masonic education becomes wisdom, others will request your help, your presence, and your guidance. As your step-by-step Masonic education continues, it is my sincere hope that you will find this information to be both enlightening and to be of value to you; both within your life and in your journey toward the Light. So Mote It Be! Simon Pierce