Book Review – What Just Happened? 

Entered Apprentice

An ordinary day at the office, that was not! You have just experienced the first of several stages in being a Freemason and becoming knowledgeable about Freemasonry, an enlightened view of the world about you in a fresh light and aspects of yourself which perhaps you wouldn’t otherwise be fully aware. If you think that’s a bit rich and that you haven’t discovered anything at all, that’s because it takes time to come to certain realisations and is why several steps are required.

This booklet will attempt to describe in plain terms what was involved in conferring this first degree, a little of its historical and traditional basis, as well as the ideas presented to you for your contemplation now and in the future.

In this small volume, you will not find anything fanciful but rather authoritative explanations backed by footnote references to highly respected sources allowing you to understand the historical context and original intended meaning of every aspect of the ritual. This short guide covers everything you experienced including the working tools tracing boards and different sections of the ritual.

Fellowcraft

So you have just taken your second step in Freemasonry! The Second or Fellow Craft Degree is arguably, and certainly historically, the most interesting of all because it embraces in a symbolic way the active part of your adult life. In some ways it is similar to your First Degree but why is it so short?

In the early days of speculative Freemasonry, in the seventeenth century, there was just one degree, that of making a mason. In the next, eighteenth, century as the order became more widespread, something was wanted to distinguish the very new member from the more experienced. So the Entered Apprentice Degree was created using parts of the making and the truncated remains becoming the Fellow Craft Degree (also called Masters and Fellow-Craft). Lodge records, however, often show both degrees were still conferred one after the other at the same meeting.

In this small volume, you will not find anything fanciful but rather authoritative explanations backed by footnote references to highly respected sources allowing you to understand the historical context and original intended meaning of every aspect of the ritual. This short guide covers everything you experienced including the working tools tracing boards and different sections of the ritual.

Master Mason

Congratulations! You have completed the final step in the three degrees of Craft Freemasonry – but, as you will soon realise, there is more, much more!

In the second of these booklets we discovered that not only has the Entered Apprentice Degree borrowed from the Fellow Craft Degree but so also parts of the Third. Recent research strongly indicates the degree of the Master Mason being compiled by early grandees, and one in particular, during the early 1720s.

In this booklet, what, how and why that happened will be revealed to you along with several other aspects. For now, it is sufficient to say that this separated ‘Hiramic’ degree came into being sometime before 1730, although there is evidence of aspects being known among speculative Freemasons long before.

In this small volume, you will not find anything fanciful but rather authoritative explanations backed by footnote references to highly respected sources allowing you to understand the historical context and original intended meaning of every aspect of the ritual. This short guide covers everything you experienced including the working tools tracing boards and different sections of the ritual.

 

Article by: Hugh O'Neill

Hugh O'Neill

Past Master of Craft lodges under the constitution of the United Grand Lodge of England.

Member (Master 2022-2023) of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076,  the world’s premier Masonic research lodge.

Masonic historian and orator on Masonic topics.

 

 

Recent Articles: Ashlar Chippings

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Track and Trace - nailed it!,
2) Trouble at t’mill ,
3) The ‘Official’ Visit and
4) Whence the penalty? 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Lewies and the Tenue Blanche in New York and
2) Penalties - worth it? 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols
and
2) Intriguing Coincidence? 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Lord Carnarvon's 'recuperation' and
2) "Freemasonry" in Naples in the Eighteenth Century 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Take care for whom you vouch!
2) Perilous Time
3) On asking for a Certificate of Good Standing and
3) The Wrong Frequency! 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Some words and phrases and
2) Rudyard Kipling 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1) Multiple ceremonies and
2) A horseman revealed! 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: - Emblems on an Installed Master’s Apron. 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
1)The Stiff Upper Lip - Keep Calm and Carry On – Masonic Style and
2)Ladies’ Freemasonry 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) Understanding Freemasonry,
2) Where was the Foundry? and
3) Answer this and answer true 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) How to get your Knighthood,
2) The Cowan,
3) Keeping the Tankards topped up! and
4) Installation of a Lodge Master (1723) 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) Whence Came the Rosettes,
2) The Freemasons' Motto and
3) On the carpet - Hundred of Elloe Lodge No. 469 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) New Master,
2) Veiled in Allegory and illustrated by Symbols and
3) Emasculation! 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
Masonic Symbolism 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) The well qualified Master Elect,
2) An Irish Obligation,
3) A chair going spare?,
4) Hirsute Masons and
5) Nature’s Bounty 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) A ‘Masonic’ Dodo!,
2) Public ‘Open Nights’ and
3) Fraternity or Corporation? 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -
Tercentenary of United Grand Lodge of England - 1721-2021 season 2 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) Our charitable visitors,
2) Speculation?,
3) The Recovery of that which was Lost and
4) Showing the flag 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) The Future of Masonry,
2) Why is the apron flap sometimes up and sometimes down? and
3) The scandalous William Preston 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) That ‘H’ word,
2) Lesser Lights - what are they?,
3) The darkness comprehended it not!,
4) Interpretations of Symbols and
5) Tailpiece 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

Neville Barker Cryer personal view of Freemasonry 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) Equality,
2) The Faithful Few,
3) What’s the Attraction? and
4) Slap on the wrist for a Past Grand Master 

Fifty Shades of Blue

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

Fifty Shades of Blue! - The discussion of Provincial Honours amongst UGLE members appears to be ever contentious 

Masonic Sea Chest

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

Masonic Sea Chest from the Orlop Deck of HMS Victory 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar: -

1) Symbolic Masonic Penalties,
2) Eligibility? – It depends and
3) Provincial AGMs During COVID-19 Suspension 

Ashlar Chippings

Hugh O’Neill's regular chippings whilst smoothing the ashlar -
1) We are where we are, because… and
2) Ornaments to the Society 

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