Esoteric Freemasonry

Acacia Lodge #1
Ancient, Accepted and Esoteric Freemasons
A.·. A.·. & E.·. F.·.

Esoteric Freemasonry
by Sister Dianne Fullerton, Ph.D., & Brother John Gilbert, M.S.Th., M.Ed.
A.·. A.·. & E.·. F.·. Grand Lodge Convocation
June 23, 1979

Mrs. Fullerton: "Grandmaster, Grand Lodge Officers, Master Masons, aspiring Master Masons and Guests, it gives us great pleasure to present this report from the Membership Committee to you today.

Freemasonry has often been described as a "system of Morality." While it is true the Masonic rituals do teach us how to become better persons and improve our social and intimate behavior through symbolism and allegory, many Masons do not demonstrate this "higher morality" in their everyday lives. I hasten to add, they do not display an exemplary morality through no fault of their own. They don't know any better. They are what they are because society is what it is. They learn from their companions and the do not learn from their Masonry.

Grandmaster Ashley believes, and John and I agree with her, that the fault lies with Masonry itself. We say one thing and do another. We say we teach a "system of morality" and we fail to teach it. We say we teach morality through allegory and symbols but we fail to explain the allegory and symbols so no teaching really occurs. We say one thing and we do another.

On another level Masonry teaches brotherhood of all people. Yet in every state in these United States women are denied membership in all regular Masonic Lodges for no reason other than the fact they're a woman. Black and Hispanic males are denied this same opportunity because of the color of their skin. Oriental and Near east males are denied membership because they don't accept the "Christian doctrine" as "their doctrine." Some Masonic Bodies are closed to Jews because they refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We say one thing and we do another.

We say Masonry is a charitable and philanthropic organization. In practice trying to get money out of any Masonic body for any charity, other than their own Lodge, is next to impossible. The savings accounts of most regular Masonic Lodges are measured by tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their philanthropic and charitable expenses are measured in the tens and only occasionally in the hundreds of dollars. On the average, Masonic bodies give away less than one percent of their income for charitable and philanthropic purposes. Our own Lodge is no exception. We all say one thing and we do another.

As a consequence of this dichotomy between what we say and what we actually do, Masonic bodies all over the world are experiencing a steady decline in membership. More than this, Masonic bodies all over the world are finding an increasing percentage of their declining memberships disinterested in memorizing the rituals and serving as an officer in the Lodge.

There are a few exceptions, but they really are few and far between. We're becoming Masonic Lodges of Apathy. We say one thing and we do another.

When Grandmaster Ashley appointed John and I to chair a committee to investigate the problems facing Masonry today, I didn't expect to discover the fault lies within Masonry itself. I thought it was a cultural thing, a change in focus because of the times in which we live. I was surprised when it finally dawned on me that we talk about teaching morality but we don't teach it, that we talk about high ideals, charity and philanthropy but we don't practice them. It was a shock and a major disappointment.

But once we identified the problem, we were charged with finding a solution. The Committee has considered many options which we've discussed with the Grand Officers. Today, Brother John Gilbert will present our recommendations to improve the quality and quantity of our membership. Brother Gilbert."

Mr. Gilbert: "Thank you Sister Dianne. Grandmaster, Grand Officers, Master Masons, all other Masons and Guests, thank you for the opportunity to present the remainder of our report this evening.

The Committee has decided to recommend remedial action to span the gap between what we say and what we do. We propose to add a "Secret Esoteric Lecture" to each degree. That lecture will explicitly explain the moral concepts being exemplified by the initiation. Any person receiving any degree will be told in no uncertain terms exactly what this degree is all about.

For each degree the working tools will be explained esoterically so the Mason understands what that tool is and how to use it in his or her everyday life. Suggestions will be given to assist the Mason in attaining the spiritual goal of enlightenment and in living life in this mundane world on a day-to-day basis. The secrets will explain how the Mason can lift him or herself to a higher standard of morality and thus become a beacon of light for all of humanity but more especially his or her family and another fellow Mason.

The Secret Esoteric Lecture will contain what Manly P. Hall calls the "secrets of the ages." These secrets are widely known but practiced by only a few. It is our intention to encourage every Mason to practice these secret arts on a daily basis rather than letting them fade from memory as most things do.

If Esoteric Freemasonry is everything regular Masonry is and more, then we need to demonstrate exactly what "more" we really are. The Secret Esoteric Lecture tells the new initiate exactly what more we are and it makes the secrets of Masonry easily understood. We don't merely say we're a system of morality, we prove it and we show every Mason exactly what that system of morality is.

Our second recommendation is more controversial and attempts to answer the growing trend for generally attending fewer and fewer Masonic functions because of increasing exterior demands. Many of us have attended a meeting expecting others to run the meeting only to be handed a jewel and given a duty in the Lodge. As unprepared as we were we stumbled through the opening and closing ceremonies. Some brothers and sisters thrust into this position don't bother returning to a business meeting of the Lodge.

Many of us have shown up for an initiation only to find some cast members missing. We ended up doing more than one part of the ritual or performing a part we had not recently practiced. I know. This has happened to me several times. I've also unexpectedly sat in the east while Sister Fullerton guarded the door, conducted the candidate, spoke the prayers and delivered one of the lectures. I also remember Sister Ashley performing the double duty of being both the Junior and Senior Warden at a Fellowcraft Initiation because nobody else present was available to do one of those stations.

We need to rewrite our rituals. We need to have them written so three or more people can confer the degree in question. If seven people show up well-rehearsed and ready to go, then we have a full compliment. But if only three show up, we have a way to resolve this problem and quickly, because all three are prepared and ready to go.

What this involves is training everybody to do the minor parts for every ritual. This means every Mason in the Lodge can guard the door, arrange the altar and speak the prayers, prepare the candidate, conduct the candidate, and read the lectures. Yes, I said read the lectures.

Thankfully, we're blessed with a good number of Masons who have the lectures well memorized and can give them on short notice. But, we may not always be so lucky. As we implement our third and final recommendation, we may well have several Lodges where not all lectures have been memorized. We have two options: 1 ] skip the lecture or 2] read the lecture. Skipping the lecture really isn't an option.

If these minor parts can be done by every Mason in the Lodge, we have the ability to ask any brother or sister to fill any of those positions on a moment's notice. That leaves us with one large part and two smaller ones. The Junior and Senior Warden parts are easily memorized by any person who understands the ritual. The Master's part is more difficult but most Past Masters will know the part well enough to at least read it with conviction.

The difficult parts in any ritual are the lectures. Some of these are quite long and some are difficult to commit to memory. By changing our view on memorization and allowing these lectures to be read aloud by the Lecturer and quietly by the Mason, we: 1] reduce the number of errors in the spoken lecture, 2] make it easier for the candidate to understand the content of the lecture, 3] protect ourselves against disaster when a key lecturer fails to show, 4] allow a fewer number of officers to confer each degree, and 5] reduce the stress experienced by giving the lecture.

Three people can cover the three main characters in every ritual, deliver the three main lectures in every initiation, and cover all the minor parts in the ceremony. The same papers used to confer the initiation can be used to instruct the degree recipient. When we have an abundance of manpower we can use them to reduce the burden on others. When we have a shortage of Masons we can still confer the degrees with dignity in a meaningful way.

Our third recommendation is to allow any three or more Master Masons to form a Lodge under the auspices of the Grand Lodge. These Lodges may take the form of study groups or they may open and close in due form, confer the Blue Lodge degrees and conduct regular business.

We've discussed the pros and cons of doing this for several years. Most of us like the idea. Dr. Ashley and the Grand Officers asked us to tell them how we could make this work. The answer is that by rewriting our initiations, opening and closing rituals so three or more Master Masons could open and close a Lodge and confer the degrees, we have a basis for allowing three or more Master Masons to form their own Lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge.

There will be problems. Some Lodges may slip below the magic number of three when one or more members leave for one reason or another. Some Lodges may want to compete for members in the same community. Some Lodges may experience financial difficulty.

In my opinion the Grand Lodge has the authority and the expertise to resolve these problems as they arise. We shouldn't let the fact that there may be problems dissuade us from empowering our Master Masons to form their own Lodges in their own communities.

[Note from Grandmaster Betty: The Secret Esoteric Lectures were adopted at the Grand Convocation on June 21, 1983. The proposal to rewrite all the degrees and allow three or more Master Masons to form their own Lodge was adopted at the Grand Convocation on June 22, 1992. Major changes in Masonry do not happen in a short period of time.]