News From The Ninth Arch

ADVANCE AND BE RECOGNIZED!

Bill Snyder
General Grand Principal Conductor of the Work

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Bill Snyder
General Grand Principal Conductor of the Work

BEING A CRYPTIC FREEMASON IN AN EVERCHANGING WORLD

As we watch this crazy world continuing to spiral into total madness, I had the opportunity to attend an official visit by a District Deputy Grand Master to a Missouri blue lodge.  In keeping that Lodge on a tight timeline, the Worshipful Master asked the brethren present to state “why they had become Masons”.

The question went around the room and the answers of the 20 or so present were heartwarming and a great tribute to our Noble Institution.  As one member noted, with agreement by all, Freemasonry around the world is the one thing that you can count on in the physical realm.  Wherever you travel or wander, Masons treat you as a brother.  It does not matter what is happening on the television or on the Internet, when you are in a lodge, you are in the point within a circle that is imbued with the blessings of the Great Architect of the Universe.

Indeed, that is one of the purposes for the existence of the General Grand Council:  To lead the Grand Councils of the globe in becoming and continuing to be a constant for the improvement of the mind and spirit of all Freemasons. 

In this instance, I added to my comments for why I became a Mason the fact that the term “ Right Worshipful” has an origin in connection with the Royal Arch in our Universal York Rite System and that the Council has a degree that actually explains why the tapers in triangular position are such and that the apparent authority of the Lodge’s three primary officers in the East, West and South are reflective of that geometric representation of Deity. 

Well, there I went again.  I keep thinking that the York Rite degrees are relevant to the proper enlightenment of all Freemasons, not just the chosen few who elect to pay extra dues for the privileges of the York Rite membership.  Is there any of my fellow 33rd Degree Masons who do not see the lessons of the Scottish Rite as being relevant to an expansion of understanding and wisdom in the first three degrees?  In like manner, ALL of the York Rite Degrees have an important relevance, an important connection, and an important perspective for the realization of being a true Freemason on the path to our heavenly lodge. We need to stop being dismissive of that importance and our degrees. 

A Cryptic Freemason seeks to preserve the ritualistic teachings from our known history and the fragments that we have from our unknown history.  Every Freemason deserves the chance to know about these teachings and to speculate about meanings and the possibility that not all historical developments are linear developments – that some could be the result of a convergence of efforts and beliefs.

Our Deputy General Grand Master is leading the way with a PLAN.  That PLAN is one to which all of our elected officers are pledged to accomplish.  I ask that each of you that read this Newsletter share it with a blue lodge Mason that is not in the York Rite.  Try it this week or at your next lodge meeting.  Have a petition for the York Rite with you at that meeting.  Seriously, you might actually recruit a new candidate for the York Rite if you make the effort. We have a reason for writing our articles – to help you recruit and retain membership.  We are in this cause, not for the glory, but for a joint victory.  But you have to use the tools that are available, or help us in the creation of better tools, better resources, and better communication.

As it has been said by my District Deputy Grand Master in Missouri, “ there are Sunday morning-only Christians who praise God in church and pick your pocket on their way out the door.  In like manner, there are such fools in every walk of life or religious faith.  Thus, we must not let ourselves be just Lodge-room Masons, who are perfect ashlars in the meeting, but immoral and unbrotherly in the world.”

And, even so, we must not be York Rite meeting-only Masons who share nothing of the York Rite’s teachings with the rest of our brothers and the world. 

Advance, and let your brothers know that you are a York Rite Mason, a Royal Arch Mason, a Royal & Select Master, or a Knight of the Temple. Share our teachings so that they are enlightened and hopefully encouraged to seek Light within the Secret Vault!  Let them recognize you as a Masonic teacher and to take up our cause.  Start with why you became a Mason, and yet again, why you became a York Rite Mason, and why you will remain a York Rite Mason!

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