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Watching an initiation

Tyler Atkinson

Tyler Atkinson

Registered User
A couple of weeks ago I went through my initiation here in Georgia and was wanting someone else's input about going to see an initiation done while still being an EA. I've heard some wanting to wait until they're a MM but why wouldn't they want to see what they have been through and try to better understand it while it's fresh on the mind? Is it more like tradition rather than rule?


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Kenneth NC Mason

Kenneth NC Mason

Registered User
By all means do it :)
A week after mine, I went to see a first degree with my step dad. He was my coach and always reminded me that by going to see one after you've gone through it, it'll help make sense of what you've been through. I think it's one of the best things you can do. Even now as a MM, I still enjoy going to see and participate in Degree work.

I happen to have lots of family in GA, what lodge are you going through your degrees at ?


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Bloke

Bloke

Premium Member
Tyler Atkinson said:
A couple of weeks ago I went through my initiation here in Georgia and was wanting someone else's input about going to see an initiation done while still being an EA. I've heard some wanting to wait until they're a MM but why wouldn't they want to see what they have been through and try to better understand it while it's fresh on the mind? Is it more like tradition rather than rule?


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Click to expand...

Taking a new EA to see another initiation in our Constitution would be one of the first suggestions I'd make to a mentor asking how he can help his mentee. It gets you visiting, actually seeing Freemasonry is more than what you see in your own lodge, and most importantly a refresher course into what you saw and heard during your initiation. We're different than many American lodges in that we always open and close lodge in the first degree and EAs have full voting rights in their lodges (and at GL, but that's a different story and only recent)... but even without that, some American lodges who open in the third and don't regard you as a full member until you're a MM will still recognize the value and reward for effort and get you along to another initiation asap.
 
CLewey44

CLewey44

Registered User
Tyler Atkinson said:
A couple of weeks ago I went through my initiation here in Georgia and was wanting someone else's input about going to see an initiation done while still being an EA. I've heard some wanting to wait until they're a MM but why wouldn't they want to see what they have been through and try to better understand it while it's fresh on the mind? Is it more like tradition rather than rule?


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Click to expand...

I would strongly encourage it. It may be the only times you get to go into lodge, depending on your state, until you're fully raised. I visited TX a couple of times and one lodge did quite a bit of business on the EA degree. OK and as far as I know, NY, typically only operate on MM level unless someone is turning in or degree night.

Obviously a different perspective but more importantly you won't be as lost and you can really reflect on some things.
 
Companion Joe

Companion Joe

Premium Member
Yes, by all means go. There is about a 99 percent chance you don't remember a whole lot about your own EA degree because of a variety of things. If you can go see one, it will certainly help you grasp what you personally experienced. Heck, I've known incredibly astute EAs who have worked in EA degrees even before they received their FC.
 
SimonM

SimonM

Registered User
In Sweden we have minimum requirements of attendance for your own grade before you can get the next. As an EA you have to watch another brother get initiated, and in the lodge I am in we require that you attend several.
My point is that I think it is really beneficial to work with the symbols of the degree and see the ceremony beeing prefromed while you are in it. In that way are the lessons reinforced and you are better prepared for the next degree.
 
CLewey44

CLewey44

Registered User
SimonM said:
In Sweden we have minimum requirements of attendance for your own grade before you can get the next. As an EA you have to watch another brother get initiated, and in the lodge I am in we require that you attend several.
My point is that I think it is really beneficial to work with the symbols of the degree and see the ceremony beeing prefromed while you are in it. In that way are the lessons reinforced and you are better prepared for the next degree.
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That's a good policy.
 
Glen Cook

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
Curious. As indicated by participants here, I have only seen attendance at degrees encouraged. As noted in the Swedish example, the Operatives require attendance at a certain number of meetings before promotion as well.

Did you receive this information from more than one person?
 
Brother_Steve

Brother_Steve

Premium Member
It seems that it was personal preference of the others wanting to wait for MM to witness an EA degree versus Lodge policy wanting you to be a MM.

Lodges in the United States progress their brethren in progression at a fast rate. You might be a MM before even having the opportunity to witness an EA degree depending on the number of petitioners your lodge gets. The distance between lodges in your area may be another factor. It may explain why some choose to wait till they are a MM to witness an EA degree. It's more convenient when you look at it from a traveling standpoint.

Check out my timeline in my signature. IIRC, the next EA degree was in the spring of 2014. Then the degree process bogged down timing wise. I may not have been a MM until 2015. New Jersey requires business to be done on the 3rd degree. I'm not saying that I would have quit, but it would have severely limited my involvement in the lodge. Unfortunately, some brethren were forced to take that road. Seeing some wait a year and a half for a MM degree versus 3 months was tough. It would not be so bad if the Lodge worked in the 1st and those Brothers in progression could attend and vote at meetings.

I'm starting to drift off topic so that's enough of that.

It is good to witness a degree you just experienced yourself. You get the opportunity to have those AHA! moments sooner rather than later. You still get them witnessing an EA degree as a MM. However, it is more helpful as a memory aid for proficiency to see the degree as you're studying versus seeing the degree for the first time after you've been raised. I never got the opportunity to witness a degree as an EA or FC. I progressed too fast to have the opportunity.
 
E

Elexir

Registered User
For us under the GL of Sweden its not difficult to see your own degree as an EA, we have a few months between degrees and hold atleast one EA atleast once a month (not counting the summer), we are also allowed to visit other GLs that work the Swedish rite from EA.
 
Tyler Atkinson

Tyler Atkinson

Registered User
Brother_Steve said:
It seems that it was personal preference of the others wanting to wait for MM to witness an EA degree versus Lodge policy wanting you to be a MM.

Lodges in the United States progress their brethren in progression at a fast rate. You might be a MM before even having the opportunity to witness an EA degree depending on the number of petitioners your lodge gets. The distance between lodges in your area may be another factor. It may explain why some choose to wait till they are a MM to witness an EA degree. It's more convenient when you look at it from a traveling standpoint.

Check out my timeline in my signature. IIRC, the next EA degree was in the spring of 2014. Then the degree process bogged down timing wise. I may not have been a MM until 2015. New Jersey requires business to be done on the 3rd degree. I'm not saying that I would have quit, but it would have severely limited my involvement in the lodge. Unfortunately, some brethren were forced to take that road. Seeing some wait a year and a half for a MM degree versus 3 months was tough. It would not be so bad if the Lodge worked in the 1st and those Brothers in progression could attend and vote at meetings.

I'm starting to drift off topic so that's enough of that.

It is good to witness a degree you just experienced yourself. You get the opportunity to have those AHA! moments sooner rather than later. You still get them witnessing an EA degree as a MM. However, it is more helpful as a memory aid for proficiency to see the degree as you're studying versus seeing the degree for the first time after you've been raised. I never got the opportunity to witness a degree as an EA or FC. I progressed too fast to have the opportunity.
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I have it in my plans to try to attend an equivalent degree before I continue to the next. :D
 
T

tomoso

Registered User
Absolutely go to an EA degree, but because of the length of a Texas EA proficiency, I don't usually recommend attending one of those until you are close to turning in your own work.
 
SimonM

SimonM

Registered User
Elexir said:
For us under the GL of Sweden its not difficult to see your own degree as an EA, we have a few months between degrees and hold atleast one EA atleast once a month (not counting the summer), we are also allowed to visit other GLs that work the Swedish rite from EA.
Click to expand...

And every "business meeting" (we dont have them in the way you have it in the US) etc opens at the lowest grade possible for the lodge. A St Johns lodge works in I degree, a St Andrews in IV degree and so on.
That makes it easy for a EA to just check the calendar and go over to other lodges nearby to see others get initiated.
 
Scoops

Scoops

Registered User
As well as seeing the degrees being performed in lodge, I'm also attending our lodge rehearsals. As the only spare body usually in attendance I'm generally tasked with standing in for the candidate and getting to experience the degree again, albeit in a more relaxed atmosphere and with repetition of various sections to ensure that the officers are ready to perform the ceremonies for real.

If you have an opportunity to do that, it may also provide some real insight into the degrees you've been through.
 
Keith C

Keith C

Registered User
I was fortunate in that there were 3 of us going though the degrees together in our lodge. As providence would have it, my degrees were all scheduled one week before the other two fellows, so I was able to go to their EA and FC degrees a week after my own. It helped greatly with my understanding.

For our Raisings, I sadly, had a work commitment and had to put off my MM degree for a month, so the other two brothers got to see my MM ritual closely following their own.

I highly recommend going to a degree that you have just received as it will really help in gaining a perspective and understanding of what actually happened. My memory wasn't 100% accurate!
 
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