Square and Compasses
Journey Home
TransforMason.org Home
Freemasonry in Weblogs

Solomon Center

A Brother's Blog

Robert's Masonic Journey


Freemasonry in Oregon

Ashland Masonic Lodge No. 23
Coming Soon!

Grand Lodge AF&AM of Oregon

Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Oregon

Belt Lodge No. 18

Sunnyside Lodge No. 163


Information about Freemasonry

Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry

Masonic Research and Renewal Center

Freemasonry FAQ

Difficult Questions about Freemasonry

Essays, Articles, and Questions about Freemasonry

Internet Lodge 9659


Other Grand Lodges

United Grand Lodge of England

Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas

Grand Lodge of Sweden

First Masonic District, Grand Lodge of New Jersey, F&AM

Grosse Landesloge der Freimaurer von Deutschland

   
Erik's Masonic Journey

Thu, 20 May 2004

# Tonight our lodge will be conferring the Fellowcraft degree on some lucky candidate. I will be playing the part of Senior Warden, which is a change from my usual recent big parts in the E:.A:. and M:.M:. degrees. In honor of this candidate's degree, I am dedicating today's journal entry to this excellent degree!

Interestingly, in the old days, the Fellowcraft was the highest Craft lodge degree. It is not until the early part of the 18th century that we start to see mention of three degrees, and things blossomed rapidly after that. As that article states,

One thing is reasonably certain - prior to the early eighteenth century, two degrees were worked, the Entered Apprentice Degree and the Fellowcraft Degree. To confirm the issue, one of the ancient manuscripts, the Edinburgh Register House Ms. of 1696 and the Sloan Ms. of 1659 refer to two degrees, whilst the Trinity College Dublin Ms. of 1711 and the Graham Ms. of 1726 refer to three degrees.
The second degree is notably different from the first. While the Entered Apprentice is treated at first as an outsider, the Fellowcraft is welcomed and bolstered by brotherhood. He is led on a fantastic symbolic voyage and introduced to a rich range of symbols on the winding staircase. I think it is fair to say that the Fellowcraft degree is my favorite of the Blue Lodge degrees.

This degree is an important one in our lodge for another reason, too. One of our old members is returning to give the "G" lecture, and one of our newest members is giving the staircase lecture for the first time! It will be a great event, and I can't wait to be there and help out!

Archives by Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Operative Web-Masons Guild Member
Geo. Washington Past Master Award

Copyright © 2000-2005 by Erik Arneson <dybbuk+journey@lnouv.com>