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Post by symbol on Dec 17, 2004 17:50:11 GMT
i would love to take a role starting with Steward but i am worried by the amount of learning at the WM stage, Im ok with the JW and SW stage but the chair worries me, there is so much too learn, i wouldnt want to do it unless i could give it my best, but i would love to do it. I saw some people from the Provincial and they were just so cool! sorry dignified!!! one was quite scarey!! but they proformed so well and professionally ,,,, how do others cope with learning so much. I thought about getting a dictaphone and recording all the positions and me filling in the gaps of each office until i learn them,,,,,
Any ideas?
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Dec 17, 2004 18:10:27 GMT
Symbol,go for it and enjoy it. i was myself initiated in Feb this year and was invested as inner gaurd .This situation arose due to a variety of reasons re drop outs and being in the right place at the right time.Destiny maybe.
I sat down after getting my collar and suddenly realised what was ahead in the next few years.Start learning now. I will post a reccommended learning programme although i doubt anyone follows it as it makes grown men cry.
Get on the ladder and enjoy it and if you dont you will wish you had done it earlier when you do.
Dont you wish you had become a freemason earlier ?
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Dec 17, 2004 18:11:44 GMT
This will scare the pants off you and was given to our Dc when he became Preceptor,
The following list is printed to enable those brethren who intend to progress through to the Master's Chair to have a plan of study over a seven year period. It shows what should be planned in each of those seven years leading to the Installation Meeting and the year as Master of the Lodge.
Year 1 When a Steward you should learn the First degree.
Year 2 When a Steward you should learn the Second degree and rehearse the First degree regularly.
Year 3 When the I.G. learn the charge after Initiation and rehearse the First and Second degrees regularly.
Year 4 When the J.D. learn the Third degree and rehearse the First and Second degrees regularly.
Year 5 When the S.D. learn the Second degree tracing board and continue to rehearse the First, Second and Third degrees regularly.
Year 6 When the J. W .learn the Installation Ceremony and continue to rehearse the three degrees.
Year 7 When the S. W. learn the Investiture of Officers and continue to rehearse the three degrees.
Year 8 When the W.M. learn the Inner Working. Perform the ceremonies, Install your Successor and you will have a very happy, successful and memorable year as Master of your Lodge.
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Post by waynecowley on Dec 17, 2004 18:43:26 GMT
Staffs Doesn't always work in practice - by Year 8 I will be halfway through my year as IPM! Bit late to learn the WMs bits then Wayne
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Post by Hubert (N. Z.) on Dec 17, 2004 22:33:49 GMT
If you take notice of most of the ritual - a lot is repetitious of other offices. Thus if you progress in an orderly fashion, fully learn your work from day one (for the particular office you hold) it cumulates upon itself, so that by the time you take the Chair it's just the initiatory bits left. We once had a period, here in Christchurch, when for 55 consecutive meetings (5 years) we had a ceremonial (1st, 2nd, 3rd or Installation) to perform. We sure learned our work then. BTW in CoM the Past Masters of the local Lodge perform the Installations.
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Post by offramp on Dec 18, 2004 2:09:25 GMT
Symbol,go for it and enjoy it... That's right! Go for it and enjoy...
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Dec 18, 2004 6:45:44 GMT
Another good idea is to learn the next office up that you will be taking the following year but try to learn other bits as well
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Post by Yoki on Dec 18, 2004 6:50:58 GMT
A friend up the road who turns up at my house for cups of coffee, husband is a Craft Mason. Until very recently I had not told her that I was a Co Mason. After I had returned from a Co Masonic conference in Auckland,I thought if she asks were I had been I would tell if she did not I would not. Well she asked, she had never heard of us and asked questions. After a length discussion we started to talk about learning obligations, roles etc. She then said (finally the reason I wrote) that she helped by testing her husband as he learnt what there was to know .I said “What? You read it as he repeats it to you “yes” was the reply .Me being the foot in the mouth type then said “that's highly irregular and should not be done “. What came next amassed me even more “most of the wives help in this way“. So tell me guys how true is this.
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Dec 18, 2004 7:19:16 GMT
Yoki,Men are openly encouraged by the "people in high places" so to speak to be open with their family and particularly their wives about the craft and particularly what happened when they were initiated. This does away with the secrecy that some men keep from their wives and can cause problems in a relationship.My 11 year old has had the initiates charge.and several other bits and helped me when learning the first lrcture of the first degree.
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Post by taylorsman on Dec 18, 2004 8:09:55 GMT
Few UGLE Freemasons will admit this but very many indeed ask the Wife or Girlfriend to hold the book while they recite from memory the words they have learned or have them act out the role of the Candidate as they walk them round the room acting out the various officers. Many Masonic Wives know as much about the Rituals as their Husbands.
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bod
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Post by bod on Dec 18, 2004 11:42:21 GMT
Ah, go on then - I confess. If it wasn't for Mrs Bod (who is a very hard taskmistress!) learning my ritual would be a lot harder. It's either work with someone, or shut your self away muttering to yourself - which works best? I'm just very grateful to her for her support and assistance with it - although I obviously don't use any of the blanked out words.
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Post by leonardo on Dec 18, 2004 12:44:18 GMT
Ah, go on then - I confess. If it wasn't for Mrs Bod (who is a very hard taskmistress!) learning my ritual would be a lot harder. It's either work with someone, or shut your self away muttering to yourself - which works best? I'm just very grateful to her for her support and assistance with it - although I obviously don't use any of the blanked out words. This particular discussion is extremely coincidental and highly welcome as only recently I was wondering who would I be able to get to help me become familiar with important ritual wordings, etc - providing, of course, I was fortunate enough in the first place to be in such a position! So on a personal level I am delighted that this is being discussed openly and that it is considered the "norm" to involve our spouses in such matters. It certainly falls in line with something I heard not too long ago about not keeping the wives/partners in the dark. I think it's referred to as the mushroom syndrome; keep them in the dark and and feed them BS. Those from the anti brigade love to give the impression that the wives/partners of Freemasons are somehow treated like second-class citizens.
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Dec 18, 2004 12:50:48 GMT
Bod. T F M K L OT F D X V
ok
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Post by leonardo on Dec 18, 2004 12:53:29 GMT
Bod. T F M K L OT F D X V ok ;D
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Dec 18, 2004 12:58:52 GMT
Leo ,in the ritual book it does not give all the words in many cases ie passwords or particular method of a passgrip so for something like put your left hand would abbreviate to P Y L H and on a nd on and in some cases there maybe half a page of this . I suppose if anyone gets hold of the ritual book unless they know they will have no idea what the abbreviations are but it is really not too hard once you knoew that bit to work it out,
My gobblydook to Bod was a load of nonsense and i just imagined him and his wife saying all the abbrev.
Got it. Good question as if you didnt know you do now.
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Post by leonardo on Dec 18, 2004 14:15:26 GMT
Got it. Good question as if you didnt know you do now. Thanks Lee. Now just what are your bank details again? ;D
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bod
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Post by bod on Dec 18, 2004 14:53:04 GMT
Bod. T F M K L OT F D X V ok It's not goobledigook. The First Man Knew Light, Or The Freedom Delivered (in) eXperiencing (its) Value ;D
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Post by Hubert (N. Z.) on Dec 19, 2004 1:22:43 GMT
Some of the above concerns me!
Whilst we should not keep secrets from our Spouses, there is an obligation to keep the ritual and process of Craft work from the uninitiated.
By involving WIVES with all the ritual learning, this has taken all the mystery and WOW factor out of any who may wish to join at a later date - Even when you involve your Kids!!
What is the point of having Initiatory Ceremonials for those who already are cognisant of the proceedings. You do your Wives a terrible injustice by treating them so callously. During the Initiations Ones' whole attention should be on what is occuring, not on what we expect to happen thru' prior instruction!
THIS DISPLEASES ME VERY HIGHLY. Whilst I do beleive in open and frank communication to use one's wife/partner/children in such a manner trivialises the fundamentals of the Order.
"Casting pearls before the swine" comes to mind. We can do great harm if we don't treat our teachings with the appropriate degree of instruction and explanation. All spiritual work should be held in the appropriate environment with the required energies present to assist the neophyte. To tamper with it otherwise invites the negative forces, and gives them a foothold into our sacredness.
WHY ELSE WOULD WE TYLE AND PROTECT OUR MEETINGS AT EACH OPENING??
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Post by whistler on Dec 19, 2004 2:20:02 GMT
Yeah, Go on Guys let your wives to become Co-Freemasons....You have let them read the ritual...
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Post by taylorsman on Dec 19, 2004 10:16:36 GMT
Again I have to disagree completely with Hubert. I was well read indeed in Freemasonry before I was Initiated in 1988 but that did NOT make me a Mason. I also realised just how much I still had to learn about "The Craft" which I had not got from all those books, once I was an EA.
I found that my foreknowledge made things a lot easier at my Initiation both for me and the JD and WM, although I did NOT let on about the depth of my knowledge but hid my Light under a Bushel.
As those who came here from "another place" will know I have never subscribed to the "It will spoil it for the Candidate" attitude and whilst of course I will not disclose the signs ,words etc which I am sworn not to , I am happy to discuss Freemasonry with anyone who has an open mind and a genuine desire for knowledge.
I also feel that the excessive secrecy prevalent in UGLE (and perhaps in NZ although I know little of that far away country and of Freemasory as practiced there), has done us far more harm than good as is shown by the hostility these days to The Craft in England from Local Councils, the Government etc. Accordingly I totally support the Openness Policy now followed by UGLE.
Freemasonry, whilst maintaining its Rituals etc as we know and love them has to adapt to the modern world where it is easy indeed to obtain information previously hidden at the click of a mouse.
I am NOT going to waste my time and energy being "W Bro Canute" and taking a twee and negative approach to someone who asks me about Freemasonry and what we do, (Signs etc excepted) when they can get it off the Internet correct in every material particular!
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