The new candidate for initiation, once he is permitted to enter the door into the Lodge Room, is immediately introduced to what appears to be a very strange world; a world parallel to the one he has left outside the door. First he is asked to confirm that he is free, and then he sets out on a long journey to the east. He begins this by stepping off with his left foot. Why?
     The left foot, freedom, and the east; the symbolism seems like some eccentric addition to Christian teaching.
     Certainly we cannot deny a Christian influence on masonic ritual. On a very basic level, each degree begins at dawn and closes at sunset and so represents one day. The three degrees then symbolise three days, the last looking to the world beyond the grave. It is hard not to see a parallel with the three days of Easter. Judaism too has an obvious influence: the central myth of Freemasonry, Solomon and his Temple, demonstrates this. Less well known is the parallel with one branch of Islam - that of the Sufis. When Freemasonry first appeared in the Islamic world, in the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century, it was regarded as identical with Sufism.
     In fact, there is symbolism far older: the Roman architect Vitruvius, mentioned in our Ancient Charges, wrote in his famous book on architecture that, ‘…all the altars of the gods should look to the east.’ This was standard building practice even then, in the First Century BC.
     Perhaps it was because the west leads to the “Far World”, the world of the gods and the dead whereas the east reveals the rising sun, a new day, symbolising a new life. The letter attributed to Peter in the New Testament echoes this, asking us to remain true ‘until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts;’ that is, the rising of the star in the east.
     Stepping off with the left foot has an ancient heritage as well, also related to the idea of rebirth into a new life. If you look at the statues of the gods and Pharaohs from the Egyptian Temples you will see that many are portrayed stepping off with their left foot, particularly after a ‘coronation’. This represents a stepping into life, a stepping from heaven back to earth.
     This can readily be understood as representing a renewed journey through life after the experience of some kind of initiation.
     And lastly, freedom: whatever else this may mean in society or in law, all religious and mystical traditions agree, no one can reach the end of their journey until they are free from all attachments to the endless distractions of the world and the intellect.
     So you can see, right from his first entrance into the Lodge Room, the candidate is exposed to the deepest and most ancient wisdom although it may take him a while to realise it - especially so if no one explains it to him.

The Journey to the East Begins.

At its heart Freemasonry is a journey, one which passes through numerous stages, trials and confrontations. But there is a curiosity: at each point, when the journey seems to be completed, we find that we are wrong, that the final step of one cycle becomes the first step of the next. And all the time we are heading, inexorably, towards the east. Why is this?
     The masonic journey is a real journey carried out in the Lodge Room during the course of the three Craft degrees and the Royal Arch; a real journey which symbolises a greater more complex one which is equally real; that of a man from ignorance to wisdom.
     In the First Degree the Candidate is paid in corn, wine and oil; he is given only those things which are necessary to sustain life. In the Second Degree, as a Craftsman, he is paid in coin allowing him the freedom to use, hide or waste, the personal resources represented by these coins. Furthermore, it is in this Degree that the world is explored and its secrets and mysteries investigated.
     But the Third Degree gazes towards a more distant horizon. It concerns the world beyond and the best way of living in order to prepare for this great and final journey; a preparation augmented by the Royal Arch.
     Two important bits of advice about this journey are given in the Charge to the Third Degree: firstly it says, ‘Be careful to perform your allotted task while it is yet day.’ And secondly, ‘Continue to listen to the voice of Nature, which bears witness that even in this perishable frame resides a vital and immortal principle…’
     We are told that in time, following this advice on our journey, that we shall ‘lift our eyes to that bright Morning Star,’ which symbol brings us back to the east and the dawning of a new day.
     In fact, Freemasonry is like a pilgrimage, something quite different from simple travel. A pilgrim gains insight leading to wisdom; a traveller gains only impressions. A pilgrimage is an experience; it changes a person, while a tour merely entertains. This is an important distinction.

Standing in the East

In Freemasonry, it is in the east that we are first allowed back to light and sight, following which, we take our initial obligation. Afterwards the Master gives a secret sign by which we might be known, together with a word. Not ‘The Word’ - that great gift of insight, knowledge and wisdom which is promised - but a password which will allow us to continue our journey.
     The steps to the east begin with three steps in the First Degree; five steps in the Second; seven steps in the Third: fifteen in total. We often find that the sun, or the radiant nimbus behind our powerful symbol of the Centre - the triangle containing the Hebrew name of God or the all-seeing eye - has fifteen rays, reminding us of the steps by which the threshold of the Centre, the source, is approached.
     And what lies at the Centre? Our symbolism and ritual gives us an answer: it is where the true secret of Freemasonry resides - a secret which, in the end, must be experienced in order to truly know.

A Change of Journey

But there is a danger to be aware of: after having been led by the hand on the journey through the Degrees, a Freemason finally finds himself at the end of this guided journey. He must now take the wisdom and insight he has gained and strike out on his own; we are all different and our journeys onward too will differ.
     But at this point some can feel abandoned. It is here that many good Freemasons drop away, feeling that somehow they have failed, or have been forgotten. It is here that an insightful mentor can help in the often strange transition from a journey led by the ritual to a journey led from within, by the heart. It takes a real shift of perspective.
     Yet, once we began the journey, on that day of hesitation and nervousness, when we entered the Lodge Room for the first time and stepped off with our left foot, our progress towards the end was inevitable. This progress is implicit in everything we do and learn in Freemasonry and is embedded in our symbolism which then can be seen as dynamic rather than simply a static design. It symbolises that movement which carries us on the winding path towards the east and the Centre.