What does it mean to walk into a sacred space? There is no simple answer but it resides in a blend of heart and mind and place. A sacred space is one where the sky touches the earth; where the clamour of daily life is stilled by a lightness from above. But do we find it, or does it find us?
    One special symbol of a sacred space is that of Jacob’s Ladder, resting on the earth where its first rung is but a step away and its highest rungs lost in the divine brightness above. It is depicted on the tracing board exhibited in every lodge when opened in the First Degree. The basic form depicts a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Its secret is revealed in the Biblical story - Genesis, 28:

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Note: ‘angels…ascending and descending’ - a movement from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth. It expresses a living dynamism, an interchange, a mutually supportive relationship between the terrestrial and divine realms. And, by virtue of the ladder itself, not only is this movement between the two realms allowed and encouraged but the two realms are joined; here is the essential meaning of a sacred space.
    And on our tracing board there is more information. The base of the ladder - resting on the sacred space which allows the journey onwards - is placed at the head of a chequered floor, beyond the three masonic columns of wisdom, strength and beauty. There is no denying the implication: the sacred space is our Lodge Room itself. Indeed, the First Lecture states that our lodges stand upon holy ground; the space within which we conduct our rituals is therefore sacred.
    Our rituals themselves are a journey onwards, enclosing the sacred space in time rather than with any physical boundary. Each ritual begins by establishing a place of safety - in the past a circle was constructed by sprinkling flour or water and the interior purified. In the modern masonic lodge we establish and affirm the safety of our sacred space by tyling the lodge and using our special knocks in a particular order. Once the place of safety and purity is affirmed, the sacred space awaits movement: our ritual begins.
    We move in a particular way, by a particular method, for the sole benefit of a particular person: the candidate. For it is his night. He is the focus of the lodge’s efforts, at the very least, to stand him at the foot of Jacob’s Ladder and instil the hope that in time he will learn how to journey up it.
    All this is at the centre of Freemasonry and it creates men who learn to live from the deepest aspirations of their heart. All this is at the centre of Freemasonry: it is initiation. The initiation of an individual into a new way of life. If we forget this then we have lost the way to Jacob’s Ladder. And we are all the losers.

O O O O O O O O

As Editor I try to maintain a range of articles in Freemasonry Today. I also try to carry news items which reflect the different ways in which Freemasonry helps the community and works closely with civic and religious leaders as well as other items which show the international affiliation of the movement, along the way, revealing how much we share in common.
    I like to carry articles in each issue which are varied in the hope that our very broad range of subscribers and readers, both men and women, will all find something of interest. In particular, I have always hoped that each issue might spark off an interest or open someone to an insight; that it might help enrich and deepen the experience of Freemasonry.
    Which is why I am always gratified to hear of Lodges which make a regular practice of giving an annual subscription to Freemasonry Today to new initiates or newly minted Master Masons. I should like to encourage other lodges to think about doing the same.
    Which brings me to a more mundane matter. Rising costs - avoided for some time by the skill of our Publisher, David Wilkinson - have finally caught up with us. We find the need to raise the price of all subscriptions by £1.00. Irritating, it is true, but we will strive to make it worth such a modest increase. Michael Baigent MA – Editor