ENTHUSIASM FOR THE CRAFT

Sir,
    Doubtless the proposed revisions to the Royal Arch ritual will elicit a wide range of opinion. Personally, I feel that the working group have done an excellent job in removing unnecessary clutter from this degree and, in particular, the highly dubious assertion that it is the Master Mason’s degree completed.
    I cannot, however, agree with the suggestion that the perceived drop in interest in the Royal Arch is due to any intrinsic problem with the degree. All of us began our masonic career in the three Craft degrees and it is here that the seeds of our enthusiasm were sown and nurtured. Sadly, many new masons are initiated, with little or no preparation, into small Lodges and, hardly has the ink dried on their Grand Lodge certificates than they are pressurised into learning and enacting ceremonies that they barely understand. If we had fewer but larger Lodges so that new members could learn about our ritual before they learn the ritual, Lodges of Instruction rather than of rehearsal and far less obsession with rank and status we would attract and retain young Brethren who are enthralled by the depth of spiritual and philosophical richness in our three Craft Degrees. Interest in the additional degrees would naturally follow on.
    John Grange, Middlesex Hospital Lodge, No. 2843, London.

ROYAL ARCH RITUAL CHANGES

Sir,
    The object of these proposed changes is evidently to encourage more Master Masons to join the Royal Arch. Unfortunately, it is difficult to see how any of the changes can have any such result. There is a danger that they may upset some of the present Companions, leading to resignations.
    The problem is not the ritual, it is the failure of chapters to recruit the right Master Masons. Members recruit from their own lodges. In many chapters most of the members do not belong to the lodge to which their chapter is attached. When a member from the associated lodge joins he finds that he hardly knows any of the members and is never seen again. There are others who are recruited, attend chapter once or twice, and are never seen again. Chapter is different and requires deeper understanding. Breaking the link with lodges may be a step in the right direction but if this is to be effective all chapters should be renumbered otherwise it will appear that the link still exists.
    The Royal Arch has already been dumbed down by removing the JBL and LAB words. The interpretation of the JBL word as introduced during the nineteenth century was completely inaccurate and spurious and was quite rightly removed from the ritual. The three original words began with J, B and L, ideally they should have been retained with an accurate description. The LAB words were removed, apparently because it was claimed they did not mean what was said. A prominent Jewish mason has explained to me that the original Hebrew characters could be interpreted in two ways and the alternative interpretation did provide the meanings attributed to the words. What is important is that the esoteric message conveyed by the ritual has now been lost.
    Under the York Rite, as it existed during the seventeenth century in England, Freemasonry originally consisted of two degrees. The second of these degrees was concerned with the death of Hiram Abiff and the recovery of the genuine secrets. Subsequently the first degree was split into the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft and later the second degree was split into Master Mason and Royal Arch. Following this, other degrees were developed and introduced so that by the middle of the eighteenth century the Royal Arch was the seventh in the York Rite series:
    1: Entered Apprentice (Birth)
    2: Fellow Craft (Life and education)
    3: Master Mason (Death)
    4: Mark Master Mason (Work and career)
    5: Passed Master (Teaching, passing on knowledge)
    6: Excellent Master (The veils – spiritual life)
    7: Royal Arch (Union with the Almighty)
From this brief recapitulation it will be seen that whilst the Royal Arch was at one time the completion of the third degree, by the time of the Union it was actually the seventh degree which is its rightful place in the original scheme and the position it occupies in most jurisdictions. It was this system which was taken to America where it is still correctly known as the York Rite.
    John W. Mitchell, Hove, Sussex.

CHANGES IN CRAFT RITUAL

Sir,
    Ditching our ritual is given a justification in that it reflects the ‘language and thinking’ of a bygone age. Taking the second point first, one of the attractions of Freemasonry for me is that it does reflect the thinking of previous generations rather than some of the banal secular thinking of today. We are constantly bombarded with the modern ‘take’ on life and it is refreshing to retreat to a quiet place. Just because thinking is old does not make it either wrong or irrelevant.
    As for the language, I think that the current version lends much beauty to our ceremonies. Whilst studying Shakespeare as a sixteen year old I invested in a modern translation. Even then I thought it less worthy than the original. Now, at twice that age, I see it is a pale imitation. Similarly, I often find that the translation in the Good News Bible (first published in Britain in 1976) is both less revealing and less inspirational than those from an earlier time. One of my favourite pieces of masonic ritual is to reflect that ‘to steer the bark of this life over the seas of passion without quitting the helm of rectitude is the highest perfection to which human nature can attain.’ Compare this with, ‘The best you can do is lead a good life.’
    Would this move be ‘welcomed by the younger Brethren?’ It is all well and good for your correspondent (Freemasonry Today, Issue 28, Letters, page 52) to ‘sit back and ruminate on the past’ but if the ritual is shredded in this manner, what will be left for my peers and myself to ruminate on?
    Finally, to my view, comes the thin edge of the edge; the proposal of ‘each ceremony taking no longer than forty minutes.’ Although fast food may briefly satisfy hunger, a diet of it would be unhealthy. So too would ‘drive-through’ Freemasonry. Forty-minute ceremonies! Next people will be talking about completing all three ceremonies in one day and that could never come to pass, could it...?
    Mark Gannaway, Lentune Lodge, No. 8743, Lymington, Hampshire.

Sir,
    It is hard to believe that your correspondent, C. B. Wyatt - whose letter was published in the Spring edition of Freemasonry Today - was being serious when he suggested that Grand Lodge should produce an updated short ceremony, in modern language, to assist those lodges and chapters who have taken to reading their rituals. The Church of England has tried this – and look where it has got them!
    However, if reading ritual and a desire to become trendy is what is happening in Essex, so be it. Thankfully I belong to a Province – Nottinghamshire – where, encouraged by the example set by our Provincial Grand Master, the heads of the side degrees and others, there is a real pride in ritual. Most lodges and chapters, through hard work and rehearsals, produce excellent ceremonies which are a delight to attend.
    Long may this continue – and if Bro. Wyatt would like to visit in this Province I will be delighted to entertain him. He may change his mind when he sees how it should be done.
    J. A. Taylor, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

Sir,
    What a sad letter from Bro. Wyatt in the Spring edition of Freemasonry today. There are several points with which I must take issue.
    Firstly, the ‘core and soul’ of Freemasonry here, or anywhither, is not, emphatically not, the ritual. It is Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.
    Secondly, I see no need to tinker with the ritual. Some of the language within the ritual is truly beautiful. No one who has read and understood the charge after initiation can fail to be impressed with both the language and its meaning. To see it delivered with feeling by a brother who really understands it is a real privilege.
    Lastly, thankfully, I see no evidence in my part of the world of ritual being read, either in the Craft or the Royal Arch. Much has changed in Freemasonry during my eighteen years as a member and there are more changes needed. Values, however, do not change and there is no place in my Freemasonry for the ‘dumbing down’ of ritual either in its language or its delivery.
    John Dutchman-Smith, Anderton Lodge, No. 8470, Westhoughton, West Lancashire.

Sir,
    Bro. Wyatt argues convincingly for a single alternative Craft ritual to take us into the twenty-first century. I recently found coping with different rituals most perplexing when passing through three Craft chairs in succession and have long shared the Brother’s sentiments, especially now that Supreme Grand Chapter have seen fit to update the Royal Arch Ritual so as to make it more readily understood by the candidate, and easier to memorise.
    For example, an Entered Apprentice must be forgiven for thinking that Freemasonry has something to do with household ceramics when he hears the Junior warden ask the Inner Guard to see that the lodge is ‘close-tyled’. What is wrong with: ‘Is the Tyler in his proper place, outside the lodge?’
    Surely, if Freemasonry is to survive, it must adopt Charles Darwin’s maxim: ‘the survival of the fittest or the best equipped.’ In fact, I would be honoured to become a founder member of ‘Charles Darwin Lodge’, preferably in London, whose ‘evolution’ workings are already sitting on my computer, in an attempt to express the meaning and symbolism of our ceremonies in everyday language.
    If such a new lodge were to be formed with appropriate Grand Lodge approval, I have no doubt that many lodges with falling numbers would welcome ‘evolution’ workings as a means of breathing fresh life into their ceremonies and, more importantly, hanging on to new members.
    Barry Mitchell, Lignum Lodge, No. 6744, Brighton, Sussex.

BRASS BANDS IN LODGE

Sir,
    Reading through the Spring issue of Freemasonry Today I was delighted to see the photograph of the Reading Central band of the Salvation Army during its performance at the 2003 Family Festive Concert in the Grand Temple. This is the second such event they have supported.
    On the opposite page I was also interested to read the report of a brass band playing in a lodge meeting with the enquiry from secretary, Graham Anker, whether this was a first in a private lodge. I can answer that: I am a member of the Standard Lodge, No. 6820, which has a brass group that has not only played in our own lodge meetings but also in others including Morland Lodge, No. 3066, and Norman Arches, No. 7761.
    Standard Lodge was privileged to use the Indian Temple in Great Queen Street for its fiftieth anniversary celebratory lodge meeting in 1999 and on that occasion we formed a twenty-piece brass band which played in the lodge meeting. The reason for our close association with brass bands is because the majority of Standard Lodge are members of the Salvation Army and are brass band players. Three such lodges were originally founded by Salvationists and in addition to Standard these are Constant trust, No. 7347, and Jubilate, No. 8561.
    David B. Mortlock, Retired Bandmaster, Reading Central Salvation Army Band, Standard Lodge, No. 6820, Clerkenwell, London.

BROTHERS ALL?

Sir,
    I have today received your magazine and there are two items that are of particular interest to me: the letter from Bro. W. H. Phillips on page 52 and the article about the Order of the Secret Monitor on page 38.
    I too was advised to delay becoming a member of the Royal Arch; in fact, the Director of Ceremonies of one lodge actively objected to anyone getting involved in the Order in spite of the fact that the lodge had a very active chapter.
    Also, on page 6, a masonic biography reveals the number of the other Orders the new Provincial Grand Master of Bristol is in and on the opposite page are listed the activities the new Provincial Grand Master of the Isle of Man enjoys.
    I agree that every mason should become a member of the Royal Arch, Mark and as many of the others so long as it is ‘without detriment to themselves and connections’.
    I should like to know though why I should become a member of the Order of the Secret Monitor? I thought that as a Master Mason I should be that attentive to all my brothers?
    Rex H. A. Haworth, Camellia Thea Lodge, No. 7351, London.

MAGIC CIRCLE LODGE

Sir,
    As soon as I saw the evocative photograph of the temple-like Egyptian Hall in 1898 (‘The Lodge that never was’, Freemasonry Today, Spring, 2004) I realised that the subject of the article was my oldest interest, magical entertainment. I am proud to have been a member of The Magic Circle now for over fifty years – almost twice as long as I have been a Freemason.
    Born in the heyday of the Victorian/Edwardian music hall era, the renowned magic club holds a revered place in the entertainment world. Unusually perhaps, the membership list embraces both professional and amateur performers as well as historians and collectors. Over the years it has included many top flight professional performers who are household names, such as David Nixon and Paul Daniels, as well as senior members of the royal family, cabinet ministers and others from all walks of life including ministers of religion.
    No reason has been discovered for the rejection by the United Grand Lodge of England of the application to form a Magic Circle Lodge but it seems likely that the possibility of misunderstandings arising over such potentially explosive words such as ‘magic’ and ‘conjuring’, with unjustifiable hints of esoteric connections with alchemy and necromancy, would in those deeply conservative days (1909) have made the club seem slightly disreputable and thus unacceptable.
    In our more enlightened world, as the club achieves its Centenary, and with the added respectability gained by now having acquired a fine permanent headquarters in central London and a distinguished world-wide membership, perhaps Grand Lodge might take a different view of an application from Magic Circle members today. I have to point out, however, that not all the members would qualify as women members have been accepted by the Magic Circle for some years and now form a valued, if small minority, of the membership, including the honoured Inner Magic Circle.
    I congratulate you for pulling another rabbit out of the hat and continuing to entertain and inform us about a wide range of masonic interests in Freemasonry Today.
    Colin Bissell, Eastbourne, Sussex.

Sir,
    As a member of The Magic Circle I read with interest Arthur MacTier’s article in Issue 28 of Freemasonry Today with regard to the application for the founding of a Magic Circle lodge in 1909.
    It seems strange that the petition was turned down as the links between Freemasonry and The Magic Circle are, as the article points out, somewhat similar. I wonder what would happen if, as in 1909, a similar petition was made in 2004 to the Grand Master which would bring, if granted, more brethren into Freemasonry.
    Rex James, Willing Lodge, No. 2893, London.