Masonic Rites

I've been really interested in learning more about the different masonic bodies there. This research led me to this wiki page...... http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Masonic_Rites

There are so many different rites, bodies, colleges, degrees ect. I know some as clandestine such the misram but it makes me wonder if they clandestine ad the powers that be felt they gave us too much "light".....your thoughts?

 

Don't mean for this to sound conspiracyish

 

'Too much "light"'? Nope. That's never been the reason for declaring a body irregular.

The reasons have to do with failure to accept the sovereignty of the territory's Grand Lodge, for having unMasonic stances, for conferring the first three degrees and thereby claiming to "make Masons" and similar patterns. In none of the cases does it make any sense to claim the body confers 'too much "light"'.

 

Being a some what new MM I certainly don't pretend to know all of the answers but this answer sound right to me. However, with all of the emphasis Masonry places on the quest for more light I do not believe anyone would ever be penalized for having "too much light".

 

Masonic "bling" has nothing to do with light in Masonry.

Just MO, ymmv.

 

No what i meant was the rites, not the bodies. You know maybe they gave to many secrets ....im just poking the bear really. I obviously only know what's on the internet about these random rtes so I'm just speculating

Also if you go to that link and click on some of them there are more links to other bodies and rites and other masonic type info. Some of it is really interesting and makes you wonder why they didn't last

 

You say po - TAY - to; I say po - TAH - to. You say gracias; I say danke. Translating something into another language does not make the meaning stop being identical.

Good timing. This is "Mou-vember". I am using the month to redesign my beard. At the moment I look a bit like a were-bear where normally I look a bit like a hobbit instead.

 

Your right i meant the rituals.

 

Well, you're kinda veering all over now.

• A "rite" in this context is a collection of degrees, culminating in what you could call a degree system or a rite. I defer to Mackey on the subject:
  • "..a method of conferring Masonic light by a collection and distribution of Degrees. It is, in other words, the method and order observed in the government of a Masonic system."
• A "body" in this context is the governing structure that administrates and controls said rites. A single rite might have more than one body assigned to it. The easy example is the York Rite which is governed by respective Chapters, Councils, Commanderies, AMD Councils, etc together with their Grand counterparts.
• A "ritual" is "the mode of opening and closing Lodge, of conferring the Degrees, of installation, and Other duties, constitut[ing] a System of ceremonies"

Nomenclature is important, especially with this topic.
I get the gist of what you're asking though. I would suspect that it's not a case of "too much light", but rather a mixed bag of "we don't agree with those particular rituals/degrees" and/or "you just made up your own degrees and called them masonic", of course going back to point #1. Toss in a little, "your organization does not follow similar principles as ours", and you kinda see why some Rites get labeled clandestine.

 

Bro Crono, you taught me something with that last post. Ever since i was raised last year i always thought the word "rite" was interchangeable with all of the above....as in all the rites lights ect ect.....your explanation however clarifies this for me, thank you for shedding some light on that for me

 

I am sorry if this sounds snippy, but hey, I am an English teacher ...
We see here where spelling, punctuation, and grammar are important and lost in today's world.
RIGHTS and RITES are two totally different things. In fact, RIGHT can be used as four different parts of speech and has more than a half-dozen meanings. When spoken, RIGHTS and RITES can be confusing if you are not entirely sure of the context.

 

Just to share brethren,
Most of the UGLE lodges are using Emulation Ritual in craft lodge.
My mother lodge use Oxford Ritual and there are more.

 

That's a interesting topic. Do you know where I can research like a list of different rituals?

I have no idea what version we use.

 

Bro Morris, I'm afraid there are no any e-version of these rituals. However you can obtain it from the UGLE Shop(Letchworth shop) or Store outside the GQS. Both of them got online buying of ritual book.
I think you will know the missing bits in the book because you are a proper Mason.
I've heard from a senior brother, he said the Bristol Ritual is very interesting and the candidates found that fun in the ceremony.

 

My understanding is that there is not a terribly great difference between Oxford and Emulation. Likewise, my understanding is that in much of the ritual practiced in the US, traces of the Emulation ritual can be seen. The easy answer is that you practice the ritual for your particular state. How your state's ritual evolved is its own story, likely passed down from whoever charted the lodges there first. Charting the history of our ritual is a field of study all its own.

Most of this is conjecture on my part. I've not read but a bit of Emulation and none of the Oxford.

 

I like the ritual that my lodge using because it's the tradition of my lodge. However I would love to read and practice other rituals as well, that makes your eyes wider.

 

I see. So are those the two historical versions before the states evolved into their own sort of entities?

 

I'm not sure brother