Life as an Entered Apprentice

This is my third post on my experience with Freemasonry.  If you would like to get caught up please click on the label “Freemasonry” and it will bring up all of the posts that pertain to this topic. 

Anyway, I haven’t updated my blog for a while so I thought I get caught up.  In this post I will primarily talk about life as an EA (Entered Apprentice) and the ceremony for the first degree in Masonry. 

I was a little nervous when I showed up to the Masonic Temple.  Up to this point in all of my research I stayed clear of learning the details of the ceremony itself.  I have found in my life that sometimes in order for things to create a lasting impact in your consciousness it is better if it is a surprise. 

I wore my finest clothes for my initiation, mainly a suit and tie.  Before the start of the initiation I was told that I would go through it with other men.  There were a total of 8 of us; we ranged in age from early 20’s to mid 30’s.  All of us were similarly dressed and quite antsy.  We chatted for a bit, while the brethren were opening the lodge and getting things underway.  

Then we were given a very brief overview of what would be taken place and we were presented to the lodge as candidates to be EA’s.  Due to the size of the group we were separated into three groups, the brethren had 3 separate rooms in which the rituals were being performed live, what I mean by live is that every person in the ritual had a part to play and something to say.  

 The Junior Warden, who was in charge of getting all of the guys there to help with the parts, told us that “everything being done tonight was for us, and that every single MM (Master Mason) started their path where we were”.  If found that encouraging and it helped with the nerves. 

After this, one of the younger candidates and I were taken to the Gothic Room (name so after the manner of architecture in which it is designed).  By the way, Masons love architecture.  This room had to also be opened and readied for the degree work.  We waited about 20 min. and the younger candidate went first.  I waited roughly 45 min. for his degree to be finished and then it was my turn. 

Before I continue, I must tell you that I will not be given out any of our secrets or giving details as to what took place.  I would rather you find out on your own, I think it will mean more to you as an individual in you do not burden yourself with the details.  I also promised my brothers that I will keep those details private and that I will only talk about those things with a brother of my same degree or higher.  Masonry is not a secret society, but rather a society with privacy.  Suffice it to say, everything was very dignified and surreal.

 Before the ceremony, I was prepared in a very peculiar way by two of the brethren and given some instructions.  Then I was taken to the door of the lodge and the ceremony began.  The ceremony consists of a work of memorization by a group of seven MMs.  This included older and new MMs.  Every single word and phrase was said from memory. 

It is amazing to know that all of these strangers would put such an effort to make the ceremony just right for me.  I was conducted about the lodge by one of them, while all of them did their parts.  I did not say much until it was time to take the Obligation.  After taking the Obligation, I was went about the lodge again and then instructed by the Worshipful Master (WM).  When we were done, I was directed to wait with the rest of the EAs and the lecture began.  Once the ceremony is done, you are officially a Mason. 

The lecture was also from memory and this was done in front of all MMs and new EAs.  In this lecture we were given a brief explanation of what had transpired in our individual ceremonies and the reason why some things are done in particular ways.                                                                

After the lecture, we were officially welcomed by the brethren, we were also presented with our Catechisms, these are little books that are in cipher, ex:  the letter “A” may mean the word “Almighty”.  In order for us to move to the next degree we need to have them memorized.  We were assigned a coach to work with us individually and then we retired from the lodge for a small luncheon in our honor.  The whole experience lasted about 3 hours.

The Catechism for EAs is roughly 2000 words that are to be memorized. At first it is quite daunting, it feels like you are learning a foreign language, however, after a few weeks of memorization you can have the whole thing memorize.  I procrastinated, but when I finally got down to it I memorized it in a week.  

Once you are confident about your Catechism, your coach calls up two other MMs to sit in while you and your coach go over the Catechism together.  In my lodge, they are not too picky as to minor errors.  The MMs that passed me off even prompted me in some cases where I could not remember my line for the life of me.  Once they were satisfied with my proficiency, they signed me up to attend the next degree Fellow Craft (FC), which I will be writing about at a later time.