The Three Degrees from a Different Perspective The following extract has been taken from an article in The Blazing Star from 1924 (no longer in publication) entitled “The Symbolic Relation between the Craft and the High Grades.” The Candidate for Masonry, seeking, though he may not be aware of it in waking consciousness — so insignificant a part of his real Self, — to unfold the powers of the latent Godhead within him, enters the Lodge as a rough ashlar, hewn from the quarries of the world; and in the First Degree is instructed to rule his passions, to control and cultivate the emotional nature, to understand and practice the moral law. To accomplish this work he is given three W.T., the T.F.I.G., and C.G. and the C., eminently suited to the rough work of “knocking off all superfluous knobs and excrescences,” and bearing at the same time deeper meanings connected with the hidden powers of the consciousness, here to be first awakened and trained for the use of the Self behind. At the same time teaching concerning the intermediate world — that immediately beyond the Portal of Death — is given to him, and he learns to know a little of the Divine Plan through an understanding of the symbolism of the First Degree.
subtle understanding of the psychology of the mind, and the needs of its training. Teaching is given, through the exquisite symbolism of the Degree, upon the Middle Chamber, the Heavenworld, where all must go to receive their wages for the good deeds done on earth. to return later for another day’s work. The Third Degree leads man from the self to the Self, from the little world of the temporary personality, which represents us in the outer world, to the glorified abode of the immortal Soul within us, the Sanctum Sanctorum, which can only be reached by stepping over an o . . g . ., by looking across the “bridge of unconsciousness,” till the first glimpse of man’s true life is gained. Here in the world of the Real the soul dwells from age to age, taking personality after personality and gradually unfolding from unconsciousness to Sovereign Consciousness of its Unity with all that lives. This is the “resurrection of the dead,” the “reunion with the companions of former toil”; and it is at this stage only that the Quest for the lost secrets is begun — for until the vision of the Real is reached man is content with the s . . s . . of the lower worlds, the shadows of earth, and cares not for anything higher or holier than the transitory and the impermanent. The W.T. of this Degree are creative in their nature, are concerned with the actual building of the Holy Temple, for man as now touched the Source of his being, the Creative Intelligence which is the origin of all genius in the outer world, and whose very essence is joyous, creative activity and beauty.
The lessons inculcated in this Degree should be really learnt and worked into the character, before progress it to a higher Degree is sought; for the whole essence of the Masonic training is that it should be carried out into life. Unless this is done, it is idle to seek for more responsibility and higher teaching; just as it would be idle for a student to seek to into a higher class at school, until he had learnt the lessons which would make its teaching comprehensible. The unreality of Masonry today is in great measure due to the fact that the most rapid progress possible is made from degree to degree without the corresponding development of character which is essential to make the symbolism of the Degree comprehensible, and to open the soul to the sacramental power outpoured through its ritual. If we wish to revive the splendours of our Order, we must begin first to shape our own characters to the grand Masonic pattern. In the Second Degree, this preparatory work is carried to a higher level, and the Craftsman is taught to cultivate the mind. to develop his This has been written for the candidate seeking to intellectual, artistic and psychic faculties, to ex- join other orders who are looking to extend their tend his researches into the “hidden mysteries of masonic studies. Nature and Science”. The W.T. given to him are appropriate to this mental work and display a
Cross Keys October 2021
